Two people were rescued off the coast of Portland after a fishing net became tangled in their yacht's propeller.

Weymouth RNLI all-weather lifeboat was launched at 5.25pm yesterday to go to the aid of a 10m yacht stranded south of Portland Bill with two people on board.

The 10m Dutch-registered yacht, which had been on passage from Weymouth to Dartmouth, had got a fishing net wrapped around the propeller and the crew were unable to clear it all away.

With a fast flowing current and less than 100 meters of visibility due to a sea fog which had developed in the afternoon, they called the coastguard for assistance.

Using radar and a direction finding radio, the lifeboat crew located the yacht two miles south of Portland Bill.

Once on scene at approx 6pm the lifeboat team found the two crew members were fit and well and a tow line was passed to the yacht.

The vessel was brought back to Weymouth Harbour and tied up in The Cove at 7.45pm.