A suspected hoax Mayday call put Isle of Wight lifeboat volunteers at risk as they battled the 'worst' sea conditions they had ever seen.

At the request of HM Coastguard, Bembridge RNLI was called to find and help a 17ft boat with six people onboard.

It was reported the vessel was taking on water, three miles south of the Nab Tower yesterday afternoon (Wednesday).

Sea conditions were rough with strong winds from Storm Gerrit, and visibility soon reduced to about 100 metres.

Read more: Yellow weather warning for Isle of Wight on Wednesday

The coastguard helicopter was also tasked. After thorough searches, it was concluded that the call had been a hoax.

At 4.24pm, the Mayday was cancelled and both were stood down. 

Deputy Coxswain James Pink said they were the worst conditions that any of the crew had ever experienced.

He said: “Obviously it's better to be safe than sorry but we were all quite pleased when the coastguard cancelled the Mayday and stood us down having concluded that it had been a hoax call.

"Conditions were certainly pretty challenging.”