LIFEBOATS were alerted tonight after a woman threatened to drown herself.

The woman, believed to be 32 years-old, telephoned home to say she that had just got off a bus in Redcar and was going to kill herself by walking into the sea.

The woman's family called Cleveland Police who in turn alerted Redcar RNLI shortly after 7pm.

As the lifeboats were preparing to launch, they were told that the police had found the woman safe and sound on dry land.

Dave Cocks of Redcar RNLI said: "This was the second call within 48 hours asking us to go to the assistance of people threatening to harm themselves.

"Dealing with the loss of a life at sea is always difficult for our volunteer crews, so we're please that on both these occasions it was possible for the police to intervene."

Amble Lifeboat also launched this afternoon after two fishing boats collided 12 miles out to sea It involved a local Amble fishing vessel and a Fraserburgh based boat.

Fortunately an RNLI Severn class boat crewed by volunteers was in the area making for Amble boatyard for a routine inspection and repairs when the mid-afternoon incident took place.

She was subsequently requested by H.M. Coastguard to assist  As the Severn class was not officially on duty, the Coxswain requested the launch of the Amble RNLI lifeboat at 4.20pm to escort the damaged Amble fishing vessel back to its home port.

The fishing boat, although damaged, was watertight enough to return under her own steam.