A man has been rescued by emergency services after getting stuck in mud at The Strand in Gillingham for more than two hours.

Pedro Costa, 46, had walked out onto the river bed to meet a friend on his boat so he could take photos of boats at low tide.

The amateur photographer, who is from Tottenham, had checked the tide times to see if he could walk out and thought he would be okay as he neared the water's edge.

However as he neared the water he started sinking and realised he had to dial 999 for help.

He said: "I wanted to take some photos and videos of the boats at low tide and I thought I'd be alright but then I started sinking.

"I dialled 999 as it was a bit scary not being able to get out and I want to thank everyone for rescuing me. I feel a bit silly now."

Firefighters, police, the coastguard and the RNLI were sent to the scene in Gillingham and firefighters used rescue equipment, including specialist boots, to walk out and put a pontoon next to Mr Costa so they could lift him out of the mud to safety.

The RNLI also sent a hovercraft which was able to skim over the mud and collect the firefighters from the pontoon after the rescue.

Mr Costa dialled 999 at 6.30am and was rescued just after 8.30am.