Two anglers were today lucky to be alive - thanks to their mobile phone.

They used the phone to call for help as their boat began sinking off the Essex coast and were dramatically rescued as the vessel was shipping water.

Royston Teeder, of London Road, Hadleigh, and Kenneth Coatalen, of Medway Crescent, Leigh were plucked from the 17ft boat Judy Ann by lifeboat crews after raising the alarm with the phone.

They had also fired off a distress flare which was seen by a passer-by off the Clacton coast.

Coastguards scrambled the RAF rescue helicopter which helped emergency services track down the boat, three miles off Bradwell yesterday afternoon.

The two men were taken on board the Clacton lifeboat before being winched up to the rescue helicopter and landed at Bradwell Marina.

Dick Townshend, coastguard sector manager for Bradwell and Southend said: "We were very concerned at one point because the mobile phone went down and we thought they were both in the water.

"It was certainly a frantic effort to get to the scene - it was getting dark and there were rough seas and near-gale force winds."

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