TWO North Sea fishermen were rescued after their boat started taking on water.

The skipper of the trawler Charisma made a distress call at 11.20am on Monday after the engine became disabled.

The vessel had her nets still in the water, drifting 12 nautical miles south east of the Tyne piers.

The Coastguard’s Humber Operations Centre scrambled a rescue helicopter in case the boat sank and paged the Tynemouth RNLI all weather lifeboat which launched seven minutes later.

The lifeboat reached the stranded fishing boat just before midday and two crew members boarded the stricken craft with a salvage pump.

They pumped the seawater out of the Charisma and found that there was no more water coming in.

Adrian Don, spokesman for Tynemouth RNLI, said: “It was thought that the Charisma could sink and the first priority was to get to the two fishermen on board as fast as possible so our lifeboat and a Coastguard Rescue Helicopter were tasked by UK Coastguard as a matter of urgency.

“The fishermen stopped the water leak and got their engine restarted but were still twelve miles out at sea and at risk of becoming stranded again.

“Our lifeboat crew members used their training, experience and teamwork to make sure the situation got no worse and to help the fishing boat return to safety.”