A woman was rescued by the RNLI from a bridge in a "life saving" mission.

The woman was standing on the Newhaven Swing Bridge and the lifeboat crew was paged in the early hours of this morning.

Newhaven's Severn Class lifeboat was launched and the volunteer crew made their way to the bridge.

A member of the crew joined the casualty on the platform and managed to grab her and rescue her.

Newhaven RNLI Coxswain Paul Legendre said: "Due to the height of tide and urgency of the situation the main lifeboat was the only option to enable us to get crew onto the structure and recover the casualty.

"There was a significant risk that should the casualty have entered the water she would have been quickly taken by the fast moving tidal currents. 

"Although the lifeboat sustained some cosmetic damage during the service I have no doubt that this young woman’s life was saved, a testament to the amazing teamwork by our crew."

The lifeboat then manoeuvred into position to recover the crew and casualty whilst stemming the fast incoming spring tide

The casualty and crew were safely transferred onto the lifeboat despite the fast moving current through the narrows of the bridge.

The lifeboat then returned to station where coastguard, police and an ambulance were waiting.

The casualty was handed over to the South East Coast Ambulance Service and the lifeboat was ready for service at 01:50.