The two-man crew of a burning boat were rescued by a passing yacht near St Just-in-Roseland before their vessel was destroyed.

Fire fighters were called to the mid-river pontoon off Turnaware Bar just before 1.20am today, where they found the 30 foot motor cruiser to be engulfed in flames.

The two people onboard had already been rescued by a passing yacht, before they were taken to Falmouth by the Falmouth Lifeboat suffering from shock.

To tackle the burning boat two fire crews from St Mawes went to the Turnaware Point side of the pontoon, while one crew from Truro went to the King Harry slipway on the Trelissick Gardens side of the river.

Fire fighters from Falmouth tackled the blaze from the water, in Transco Phoenix, the brigade's rigid-inflatable fire boat.

Both the all-weather and inshore lifeboats from Falmouth lifeboat station were called and took firefighters from the shore to the pontoon.

The fire had quickly spread to engulf the motor cruiser and gas cylinders on the boat exploded. Along with these, there was half a tank of fuel and an off-shore flare pack on the vessel.

Firefighters used a light portable pump to supply one jet to extinguish the fire.

The burnt-out hull of the boat was then towed by harbour launch and beached on Turnaware Bar, where firefighters continued to damp it down.

The last of the fire crews left the incident at 4.30am and the Truro Harbourmaster will be arranging recovery of the wreckage.

A fire brigade spokesperson said: "This was a multi-agency operation, with the fire brigade, RNLI, Coastguard and the Truro Harbourmaster working closely together, once again, to deal with an emergency."