A man who became stuck up to his waist in mud had to be rescued by the fire service.

The middle-aged man tried to land his boat at Fingringhoe, just off the end of Ferry Road, at about 6pm on Wednesday night but ran aground on mudflats just short of the shore.

A fire brigade spokesman said: "He was on his way back to his mooring and he jumped out of the boat to take some lines up to the shore."

Unfortunately, the man sank into the sticky mud of the River Colne and the more he struggled to free himself the deeper and tighter he became trapped.

"He was waist deep when we got there. Fortunately someone spotted him, even though it was dark and called us. He was pretty lucky," the fire brigade spokesman said.

"The tide was going out when he ran aground so he was in no immediate danger but he would have been if he hadn't been spotted."

Fire crews laid out a special inflatable rubber mat to crawl across and reach the stranded sailor.

They used a high-power air lance in the mud under him to release the suction and hauled him out.

Although an ambulance attended, the man declined to go to hospital and, after being hosed down, was taken home in a relative's car.

The spokesman said: "He was quite annoyed at what had happened and rather embarrassed more than anything else at having to be rescued by the emergency services."

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