Two men were rescued by Calshot RNLI from a liferaft after their brand new motor boat caught fire off Calshot Spit in the Solent yesterday.

The crew had just taken delivery of the brand new 38ft Meridian motorboat and were on their way home to Rye in Sussex.

The pair noticed blue smoke coming from the exhaust and a burning smell from inside the vessel. Shortly afterwards the boat burst into flames.

One eyewitness to the fire told local journalists: ‘From the point when white/blue smoke started to show from the rear of the boat until it was belching black smoke and engulfed in flames took about 4 minutes,’ 

The crew, who both received injuries in the incident, did not have time to send out a distress call but managed to abandon the burning boat and get into their liferaft.

The Calshot lifeboat crew picked up the pair and took them to the safety of RNLI Calshot Station to be met by ambulance and taken to Southampton General Hospital.