Australian sailor dead, two rescued in Philippines 'yacht incident'

An Australian man has died and two others have been hospitalised after a "yacht incident" in the Philippines, authorities say.

File Source: AAP

An Australian sailor is dead and two others have been hospitalised after a mishap with their yacht in waters off the Philippines, authorities say.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed on Monday an Australian man had died following "a yacht incident" in the Philippines.

The crew of the yacht, understood to be named the Katerina, activated emergency beacons on Thursday, which were detected by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, according to an AMSA spokesman.

AMSA then alerted Philippine authorities, the spokesman told AAP.

The three-man crew was left to spend five days on board a small dinghy in the ocean before being rescued by a Filipino fishing crew on Monday, the Courier-Mail reports.

The man who died was from Townsville, it said.

DFAT confirmed to AAP it was providing consular assistance to the family of the dead man.

The Courier-Mail said the 18m yacht was once owned by renowned American television newsman Walter Cronkite and had once had Bill and Hillary Clinton aboard as guests.