An oil tanker and a cargo ship have collided in a busy shipping channel of the coast of Dover.

Tanker Seafrontier and bulk transporter the Huayang Endeavour crashed 15 miles off the coast of Dover at 2am on Saturday morning.

Both ships suffered damaged, but no one was injured.

The Seafrontier was left with a hole in its side above the water line, but there no sign of pollution from petrol being spilled into the sea, the Coastguard said.

The RNLI said that the Hong Kong-registered Seafrontier was left with a hole and suffered damage to its upper structure.

It was carrying around 37,953 metric tonnes of petrol and had 27 people on board on a journey intended to end in Puerto Barrios, Guatemala.

The Huayang Endeavour, also based in Hong Kong, was en route to Lagos, Nigeria, and was carrying ballast plus a crew of 22.

A Coastguard helicopter and two RNLI teams were sent out, as was a tug from Boulogne, France.

The Seafrontier has since been taken under tow.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency's Counter Pollution and Salvage divisions have all been informed and are all working to resolve the crash.