A MAN was rescued from Easington beach by the lifeboat volunteers after suffering an ankle injury.

Hartlepool RNLI lifeboat operations manager Chris Hornsey said: "We were paged at 2.20pm on Monday to assist the Coastguard and a Hazardous Area Response Team to remove an injured male from the beach at Easington after he sustained an ankle injury.

"The inshore lifeboat Solihull was launched at 2.37pm and was on scene 20 minutes later where the casualty was placed aboard the lifeboat along with a member of the North East Ambulance Service HART team.

"He was brought back to the Ferry Road lifeboat station at 3.25pm where an awaiting ambulance took the casualty to hospital."

He added: "Once again a quick response from our volunteer crewmembers and then working alongside the other emergency services brought the incident to a successful conclusion. We hope the casualty makes a quick recovery."

The inshore lifeboat was refuelled and made ready for service again at 4.00pm.