AN RAF helicopter crew from Wattisham helped rescue a sick sailor from a yacht off the Essex coast.

AN RAF helicopter crew from Wattisham helped rescue a sick sailor from a yacht off the Essex coast.

The team were joined in the operation by the Clacton Atlantic lifeboat after the Thames Coastguard received a call from training yacht Brigantes reporting that a crew member was ill with stomach pains at around 2.30pm yesterday.

The sailor was transferred from the yacht to the lifeboat and was then collected by the helicopter.

He was then taken to Colchester Hospital for treatment.