Three people and a dog were rescued by the Lyme Regis lifeboat today.

The RNLI boat launched at 4pm following reports of people in difficulty on the cliffs at Black Venn between Lyme Regis and Charmouth.

Three people and a dog who were reported to be stuck in the mud trying to escape the rising tide.

The lifeboat crew assisted other emergency service teams including local coastguard teams and the rescue helicopter from St. Athans, South Wales.

The crew were able to assist the coastguard teams with locating the casualties.

The helicopter crew located the group and winched them to safety dropping them in Charmouth where they were met by the local Coastguard Rescue team.

The crew were stood down by Coastguards and returned to Lyme Regis harbour at 7pm

This was the 46th service call out for the volunteer crew of Lyme Regis this year.