Lifeboat crews saved the life of a child who drifted out to sea on a dinghy.

The eight-year-old boy went missing off the Cumbrian coast last night.

He was suffering from hypothermia and emergency services say that the quick response undoubtedly saved his life.

The search was launched in the Allonby bay area just before 7.30pm.

Belfast Coastguard initially received the emergency call about a young child on board a dinghy drifting out to sea.

The Silloth RNLI Lifeboat was launched immediately, with the Maryport Inshore Rescue crew soon tasked to join the search.

The team were also joined by a Senior Coastal Operations Officer.

The dinghy was located by Silloth Lifeboat south of Allonby, with the eight-year-old boy aboard at about 8.10pm. He was suffering the effects of hypothermia.

He was taken to Silloth Lifeboat Station and met by North West Ambulance Service. The boy's family followed the coastguard team to Silloth, where they were reunited.

Eddie Studholme, lifeboat operations manager at Silloth RNLI, said: "The boy, who was wearing just swimming shorts, had been on Allonby beach enjoying the hot weather and using a small inflatable dinghy in the sea, when he was swept away by the strong tidal current.

"The alarm was raised by the boy's Mother who was also on the beach at the time with other family members.

"The boy was very cold , shivering and suffering from the early effects of hypothermia by Silloth lifeboat crew.

"He had attempted to swim to shore twice pulling the dinghy with him which made him more susceptible to hypothermia."

Denis McCallig, of the Maryport Coastguard Rescue Team, said: "We'd like to express our thanks and appreciation to each and every person involved in this fine example of a very fast multi-agency response, exceptional coordination, planning and execution of a search that undoubtedly saved a life."

Mark Ware, helmsman of Silloth lifeboat, agreed that the boy was lucky to be alive and pointed out the dangers of using inflatables on the sea.

It comes just days after the Maritime and Coastguard Agency issued a national warning about inflatable boats and toys.

It stressed that while great for swimming pools, they should not be used at the seaside as they can easily be blown out to sea.

Liz Hanson, senior maritime operations officer for UK Coastguard, said: “We strongly recommend that blow up boats and toys are not used at the beach. In an offshore wind, when the wind blows from the land out to sea, they can quickly be swept out to sea.

"We’ve recently tasked numerous assets to investigate several reports of persons in distress on inflatables - of particular interest - a large inflatable Swan off Bembridge, Isle of Wight and a large inflatable Unicorn off of Hayling Island.

"Thankfully both were recovered with no persons in distress. If your inflatable does blow out to sea, please let us know by calling 02392 552100.”