A SAILOR was airlifted to safety after spending two hours stranded aboard a boat that ran aground off Lymington.

Awalker looked out to sea and saw a man lying down in a RIB that was marooned 30m from the sea wall near Lymington Yacht Haven. A coastguard spokesman said the sailor’s mobile phone was wet, which prevented him from raising the alarm himself.

He added: “His engine had failed and he had been aground for nearly two hours.

“By now he was cold and there was little chance of the boat being re-floated before sunset.

“He would have been unable to reach the shore through the deep mud and the temperature was dropping rapidly, so the coastguard helicopter was asked to airlift him to safety.”