A woman has been rescued from a boat and flown to hospital after an accident offshore.

The casualty, who is thought to be in her 50s was on a vessel heading into Woolverstone Marina, near Ipswich, when she is said to have fallen down a hatchway on the deck, injuring her leg.

Emergency services were called at about 1.45pm with crews from the ambulances service, Coastguard and RNLI despatched along with the search and rescue helicopter from RAF Wattisham, which was on an exercise near by at the time.

The East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EEAST) was called to the marina at 1.46pm and sent two ambulances, one rapid response vehicle and the Hazardous Area response Team (HART) to assist the woman, thought to be in her fifties.

Karl Schroder, HART supervisor, said: “We were called to a woman who had slipped and injured herself in the hull of a private sailing vessel. She had a suspected lower leg fracture and a hip injury.

“The HART team was called to assist due to the proximity to water, enclosed space and specialist equipment that we were able to bring to this type of incident. The RAF Sea King helicopter from Wattisham was already on scene and one of their medics had assessed and treated the patient’s injuries. We provided additional pain relief and used a specialist stretcher to remove the patient from what was a very restricted space. The woman was winched into the Sea King helicopter and taken to Ipswich Hospital accompanied by our paramedic to make sure she was safe and comfortable throughout. We all wish her a speedy recovery!”