NINE men on a stag do needed rescuing after their rented barge got stuck in mud.

The group came to a stop at Breydon Water, near Great Yarmouth in Norfolk after straying too far from their cruising boundary and into shallow water.

All believed to be from Sussex, the men were rescued ten hours after the alarm was first raised.

A local authority vessel reported that the stag barge had gone aground at 10.20pm on Saturday.

RNLI crews from Great Yarmouth and Gorleston then arrived at 7.30am on Sunday, having checked the tide and condition of the men, to evacuate them.

The crews had to pull their boats towards the holiday vessel by chucking a buoy over and hauling themselves across.

A lifeboat representative said: “All nine passengers were taken off the boat and were reunited with their cars and belongings. They all seemed unfazed.”

The Lancing Network on Twitter claims that the men on the boat are from the West Sussex town.

Steve Williams, a ranger at Breydon Water said there were green and red posts the boats need to stay between but that their craft was "a fair distance" past the area it should not have crossed.

He warned others hiring a boat to read the guidelines and stay within marked areas.

The owner of the boat, hired through Alpha Craft, said it could be weeks before the craft was recovered.

He is now reported to be reconsidering bookings by all-male groups.