A COASTGUARD helicopter was called to a dramatic rescue after a man suffering from hypothermia got trapped in mud aboard his dinghy.

The man was spotted struggling approximately one mile off of Coopers Beach in West Mersea when the coastguard were called just after 6.30pm on Tuesday.

A lifeboat crew, coastguard team and the UK Coastguard Search and Rescue helicopter, which is based in Kent, were all scrambled to the scene to assist him.

He was helped to safety across the mud at low tide and left in the care of the ambulance service, but officials say he was not winched onto the helicopter.

Eyewitness Martin Simmons, 60, saw the drama unfold when the helicopter landed near his property at the Mersea Island Holiday Park, and even got talking to crew members.

He said: "They told me they had come from Lyd in Kent, and I guess that is the nearest place where a helicopter is based.

"We saw one of the crew members being winched out of the helicopter.

"You often see an air ambulance fly over but a rescue helicopter is not something which you see everyday.

"I do not know the extent of what was wrong with him, it could have been he had been out in the sun too long and had sunstroke or something completely different."

A coastguard spokesman said: "The coastguard were called at 6.40pm on Tuesday after a person was seen to be in difficulty in a dinghy and struggling with the tide.

"The UK Coastguard Search and Rescue were deployed to rescue this person who had run aground but we managed to get him safely ashore."

A spokesman for the East of England Ambulance Service said after being treated by crews, the man did not need to be taken into hospital.

He said: "A community first responder and an ambulance crew attended to a man in his 30s who was suffering from suspected hypothermia.

"Thankfully, the patient had recovered whilst being assessed by our staff who did not require transport to hospital."