Youngsters engineered success by solving problems themed around disaster relief at a challenge day.

Pupils from the Energy Coast University Technical College, at Lillyhall, visited the HMS Sultan in Gosport to take part in the Royal Navy University Training College's event Operation Antarctica.

Teams from the Energy Coast UTC won one category and were named runners-up in another.

Its UTC Sharks team won the category for 14 to 16-year-olds.

Thompson Reed, 15, was part of the team.

He said: "We have all worked really hard as a team and are really thankful for what we have achieved today and for the help and time that our teachers have given towards the challenge.

"The navy helped provide us with all of the things required to get the best possible outcome.

"It’s been really fun and a task like this has been really interesting for everybody."

Themed around the Royal Navy's disaster relief, students designed a boat capable of negotiating dangerous ice flows and retrieving lost supplies from part of the Antarctic.

On the eve of British Science Week, the Energy Coast UTC's Shackleton 2.0 team also finished second in the category for 16 to 18-year-olds.