Five Metropolitan Police officers have been injured after a police boat struck Westminster Bridge in central London.

The Met said the incident occurred at about 15:40 BST and involved a boat from the Marine Policing Unit which was carrying armed officers.

In a statement, it said "a number of officers entered the water, but were recovered", adding it was waiting for an "update on the extent of their injuries".

No members of the public are thought to have been involved or injured in the crash.

A London Ambulance Service (LAS) spokesperson said it sent ambulance crews, incident response officers, and paramedic teams as well as London's Air Ambulance to the incident.

They added: "We treated five people at the scene and took them all to hospital."

An eye witness, Jim Bagley, who was visiting London from the US, described seeing two police boats coming up the river.

"One was an orange boat that went under the bridge and left a great big wave, and then there was a black boat that came up behind it, the police boat," he said.

"It looks to me that he got stuck in the wake of the other boat that had just passed through the bridge and slammed into the wall on the opposite side.

"We didn't see it happen, but we heard the explosion… the next thing we saw was three people in the water, coming down the river."

He added: "We were wondering why they were under way at high speed to begin with."