A 25-year-old woman was seriously injured after her car plunged 80ft off cliffs last night.

A major rescue operation was launched after the incident at Marsden Grotto, South Tyneside.

The alarm was raised at around 2am.

Northumbria Police said a car was found on the beach below the cliffs and a 25-year-old woman, the sole occupant,  was in the car.

She was extracted from the vehicle and taken to the RVI with injuries where her condition this morning is described as stable.

The car had gone through fencing on the cliff top and came to rest on the beach below.

Humber Coastguard sent both Tynemouth RNLI inshore and all weather lifeboats, assisted by Sunderland Coastguard Rescue Team and South Shields Volunteer Life Brigade on shore.

As paramedics from the North East Ambulance Hazardous Area Team treated the woman, firefighters began cutting her from the wreckage.

Owing to poor visibility caused by fog it was impossible to extract the casualty from the beach by rescue helicopter so it was decided that the best course of action would be to do this using the Tynemouth RNLI lifeboats.

Once out of the car, the woman was put on a stretcher and prepared for transfer by the paramedics before being carried on to the inshore lifeboat which took her to the all-weather lifeboat that was standing by off the beach.

She was transferred to the larger lifeboat, accompanied by two paramedics, then taken to a waiting ambulance at South Shields ferry landing.

Once she was on her way to hospital, the lifeboats and other teams were stood down at 3.30am.

Adrian Don, spokesman for Tynemouth RNLI lifeboat station, said: "This was a great example of our crews working in close coordination with other emergency services to effect the fastest evacuation of the injured woman.

"Conditions were poor with thick fog but our volunteer crew members used their training and experience to make sure that this didn't affect the rescue.

"We don't know how the car came to go over the cliffs or have any news on how the casualty is doing but we hope she makes a full recovery."

Police are investigating how the vehicle came over the cliff and anyone who witnessed the incident is asked to contact police on 101 quoting reference 67 13/06/16.