A wealthy couple had to be rescued when their luxury yacht moored off Sandbanks capsized in gale force winds.
The man and woman, aged in their 40s, were sleeping onboard the £150,000 sailing yacht in Poole Harbour when its anchor broke loose during Storm Claudio.
The 80mph south westerly winds started to blow the 50ft long vessel, called 'Juno Lucina', towards the multi-million pound harbourside homes.
At one stage it was feared the yacht might crash into the private jetties of the mansions before its keel ran aground on a small sandbar, tipping it onto its side.
Read more: WATCH: storm batters Dorset coast with HUGE waves
As it started taking on water the occupants called 999 and an RNLI lifeboat from Swanage was sent to rescue them just before midnight yesterday (Mon).
The lifeboatmen were unable to reach them without running the risk of getting stranded themselves.
Fearing they would sink, the couple got into their dinghy tender and rowed 160ft in the wind and rain towards the all-weather lifeboat.
They were taken back to the Poole lifeboat station.
Following their Halloween horror, the shell-shocked couple were given a warm shower and dry clothes.
Local residents on the Millionaire's Row of Panorama Road, Sandbanks, said they were thankful the large yacht was caught by the sandbar.
Read more: WATCH: RNLI volunteers face shocking weather conditions on rescue mission
Rob Wiley, an entrepreneur who lives at one of the properties, said: "It is a good thing the sandbank was in the way - otherwise it would have crashed into one of the houses here on the seafront. That would have caused a lot of damage to the jetties.
"The Poole Harbour commissioners had better get it moved soon. If it comes free at high tide it would be this huge moving obstacle which could crash into anything.
"It was anchored just at the edge of the channel - normally that would be fine, but it was extraordinarily windy last night.
"They had that anchor in silt and shingle and the 80mph wind pulled it loose".
Dave Turnbull, one of the volunteers at Swanage lifeboat station, which attended the emergency, described the weather conditions as 'awful'.
He said: "On Halloween, just before midnight, the all-weather lifeboat was tasked to a yacht that was dragging its anchor in the gale force winds. "The owners of the vessel were sleeping and the first thing they knew about it was when the bottom of the boat hit the sandbar.
Read more: VIDEO: Yacht broke from mooring and washed up in bay during intense storm
"They called 999 as the as the vessel went aground and was listing heavily. The keel was above the side of the boat, meaning water was coming over and it could have sank "The Swanage lifeboat quickly arrived on scene. The wind was very strong - gusting over 70 knots.
"As the yacht was hard aground the casualties used their dinghy to reach us. We didn't want to get too close in case we ran aground ourselves.
"They drifted and sort of rowed 50 meters down to us. It wasn't easy for them because of the wind.
"We took them ashore and left the yacht in position. With the casualties safely ashore, the lifeboat was free to return to station in the early hours of the morning".
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