Boat was all at sea.

STRANDED fishermen were rescued when their boat ran out of fuel off the coast of Northumberland.

The men were rescued after the trawler was left motionless fifteen miles out to sea, east off Amble.

Tynemouth RNLI's allweather lifeboat was called out at 6.40am on Thursday after the skipper of the fishing boat Dorothy May called for help.

The vessel's engine had simply stopped running when matters were complicated by an electrical fault.

The RNLI all-weather lifeboat Spirit of Northumberland with six volunteer crew sped 22 miles to intercept the vessel, quickly locating her fifteen miles east of the Northumberland port.

A tow rope was swiftly attached to the stricken trawler and the RNLI lifeboat took her back to North Shields fish quay at a towing speed of six knots, in a journey lasting over four hours.

Adrian Don, a spokesman for Tynemouth RNLI station, said: "It seems as if the Dorothy May had used fuel at a far faster rate than her skipper had anticipated.

"Unfortunately, an electrical fault meant her batteries weren''t charging so when she lost her engine she also lost electrical power, making her radio useless.

"Thankfully the skipper managed to make a mobile phone call to alert rescuers to his position, and had he not done so it could have taken a very long time before anyone realised he was in trouble, and a long time to locate the vessel."