A disabled man and woman were rescued by Appledore lifeboat on Monday after they fell from a dinghy while trying to board a yacht in the Taw-Torridge Estuary.

Appledore’s inshore lifeboat was called to the scene, where the pair were found in the water clinging to the yacht. A rescue helicopter from Chivenor airlifted the woman to North Devon District Hospital while the man, who had a back injury, was transferred by boat to paramedics on the shore. Both were suffering from hypothermia. A third person, who was aboard the yacht, was landed ashore in Appledore