Sailor, 72, dies after going overboard yacht

It took rescue teams more than two hours to find the sailor

A 72-year-old man has died off the Guernsey coast after he went overboard from a yacht, the coastguard has said.

Guernsey Coastguard said it had received a broken mayday message at about 03:35 BST from a sailing vessel about 15 miles (24km) north-west of Guernsey.

Another vessel in the area relayed messages and it was established the sailor had entered the water and could no longer be seen, it said.

St Peter Port lifeboat, Channel Islands Air Search and a helicopter from the French coastguard were launched and the man was found at 05:45. He was flown to Cherbourg Hospital but later pronounced dead, authorities said.

The coastguard said Channel Islands Air Search had initially found an object in the water and directed the lifeboat crew to investigate.

The object was found to be a man overboard marker deployed shortly after the sailor had entered the water.

Acting harbour master James Way said: "I would like to praise the efforts of the search and rescue crews during this incident and our thoughts are with the family and friends of the deceased at this difficult time."