Boating pair stranded on sandbank

Michael and Maggie Armitage were stranded on the sandbank

A rescue operation has been mounted on the River Ouse near Goole after a 40 foot pleasure craft got stuck on a sandbank at low tide.

The Humber Inshore Rescue team said a couple from Bradford, West Yorkshire, had become stranded on the vessel near the village of Airmyn.

They now have to wait for the tide to turn and float them off the sandbank.

Stranded skipper Michael Armitage said the boat hit the bank before they realised what had happened.

Sailors Michael and Maggie Armitage were over the sandbank by mid-afternoon on Thursday.

But the rapidly ebbing tide caught the couple out and they remain stuck at the site near the M62 bridge.

Speaking on a mobile phone Mr Armitage said: "We were coming down from Selby to Goole when we just hit the bottom.

"We didn't realise the tide was going out so fast. We listed over at 45 degrees and we were panicking a bit and we thought we were going to go straight over.

"But, obviously the boat sunk in the mud, so we're OK.

"We can't do anything now until the tide comes back in."