A US navy warship has found the overturned hull of a British yacht, a week after it went missing in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, but there is no sign of its crew as rescuers called off their search.
The US Coast Guard said a helicopter from the warship spotted the hull in the afternoon, about 1600 kilometres off the coast of Massachusetts.
A small boat crew confirmed it bore the name of the 12-metre Cheeki Rafiki.
The yacht had not deployed its life raft, Coast Guard officials said.
Underwater images captured by a navy swimmer showed the raft still stowed in its storage space. The pictures had been shared with the crew's families, the Coast Guard said.
The Coast Guard stopped the search at midnight local time.
"It is with sincere compassion for the families of these four men that our thoughts and prayers are with them all during this difficult time," said Captain Anthony Popiel, 1st US Coast Guard District chief of response.
"It is only after our deepest consideration that we suspend our active search efforts," he said.
The Cheeki Rafiki had been returning to England from a regatta in Antigua when it reported trouble on May 15. Contact with the crew was lost the next day.
Coast Guard officials said extreme sea conditions at the time of the distress call put the crew's estimated survival time at 20 hours.
The crew included 22-year-old captain Andrew Bridge and crew members James Male, 23, Steve Warren, 52, and Paul Goslin.
The hull had previously been spotted by a container ship last Saturday, but Friday was the first time rescuers were able to examine it, Coast Guard Petty Officer Robert Simpson said. There was a breach in the hull where the keel had broken off.
A navy swimmer found the boat's cabin flooded and its windows shattered. Simpson said the swimmer also knocked on the hull and reached below the waterline but got no response.
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