Seaham swimmer rescued almost a mile from harbour

The coastguard landed on a pier in Seaham after the teenager got into difficulty in the North Sea

A teenager had to be rescued from the sea after getting into difficulty almost a mile from a harbour.

Hartlepool RNLI were tasked with finding the missing swimmer, off the Seaham coast, just after 15:30 BST on Sunday.

The Coastguard helicopter also attended to provide medical assistance, landing on a nearby pier.

RNLI duty coxswain Matt Adams said they were "lucky to find the casualty so quickly".

The team were called by the Humber Coastguard to reports of the missing swimmer, initially believed to be about 820ft (250m) from Seaham harbour.

A D-class, all-weather lifeboat, arrived at the scene just after 16:00 BST, where he received care from the team, and the Coastguard paramedic.

He was then returned to the harbour and transferred into the care of the emergency services.

Mr Adams said the teenager had been found in an "extremely tired" state.

"This is the sort of job we train for on a regular basis with good team work from my fellow volunteers we brought the incident to a safe and satisfactory conclusion," he added.