Four Britons have been rescued after their motor yacht caught fire before sinking off Menorca.

The blaze broke out in the engine room before spreading rapidly to the rest of the vessel in Mahon, the capital of the Mediterranean island, on Sunday.

Dramatic footage showed coastguards who went to the rescue trying to put out the fire with high-pressure water jets as a huge plume of black smoke rose into the air.

Emergency responders had initially planned to tow the 40-ft boat to Mahon Port so firefighters could tackle the blaze with more sophisticated equipment.

But coastguards eventually decided to take it further out to sea to minimise the risk of explosion before it sank.

The British nationals had already been rescued unharmed and taken ashore on a boat belonging to a sailing club based at Mahon Port.

It was not immediately clear this morning if they were holidaymakers or lived locally.

The drama occurred around 6pm on Sunday when the motor yacht was in an area known as the Mahon Channel. It sank around two hours later around four nautical miles south-east of Mahon Port.

The nationality of those on board emerged this morning.

A spokesman for the Spanish Coastguards said overnight: ‘On Sunday evening a fire broke out on board a 12-metre long motorboat in the Mahon Channel.

‘Its crew were rescued by seamen from the Mahon Sailing Club.

‘A tug began to tow it before coastguard vessel Antares took over, whilst at the same time efforts were made to put out the blaze.

‘Finally it sunk around 8pm at a depth of 92 metres. The coastguard vessel collected the floating debris.’

In June, a British couple were injured in a boat explosion in Majorca. They were rushed to hospital with second-degree burns following the incident on June 16 in the Port of Palma.

The 44-year-old man and 30-year-old woman were said to have been handling the engine of a Zodiac-type semi-rigid boat when the blast occurred and sent them flying into the water. 

Another vessel alongside it also ended up catching fire as a result.

As well as burns to their face and arms, the injured pair also suffered less serious burns to other parts of their body.

Five days earlier a British holidaymaker was among three people injured when a boat exploded in a pleasure port in Cabo Roig near Torrevieja on the Costa Blanca.

The 37-year-old was rushed to Torrevieja Hospital along with a 31-year-old Lithuanian woman after suffering facial burns.

A third person, a Spanish man aged 34, was airlifted to a hospital in Valencia after suffering severe burn injuries.

Police described the incident as an accident afterwards but said at the time they were still investigating.

Footage showed concerned Good Samaritans rushing towards the spot where the explosion occurred after seeing a ball of flames rise into the air.

The unnamed Spanish man, the most seriously injured of the three casualties, was described locally as a workman who was cleaning the vessel.

He suffered serious burns to the bottom half of his body.