BOTH of Poole’s lifeboats responded to a ‘mayday’ call after a dinghy with two people on board capsized in the harbour.

The vessel was on its way back from Studland bay when it got into difficulty on Wednesday afternoon.

The two people onboard had struggled to right the vessel in choppy conditions and issued a ‘mayday’ call.

Both lifeboats were launched by the UK Coastguard at 2.20pm.

When crews arrived on the scene, they discovered three other vessels had heard the ‘mayday’ call and responded and had pulled the casualties from the water.

The pair were then transferred onto the Atlantic B class lifeboat and taken back to the lifeboat station to be checked over while the crew from the D class lifeboat brought the dinghy back to shore.

Meanwhile, Poole coastguard met the sailors back at the lifeboat station, and took them back to Rockley to recover their vehicle and trailer.

Volunteer Helm Alex Evans said: “The people with the capsized sailing dinghy did the right thing today, they had the correct PPE (personal protection equipment), buoyancy aids and a means to call for help, which they deployed.”