Two people taking part in Australia’s annual Sydney to Hobart yacht race have died in separate incidents, according to police.
Both crew members died in separate incidents after being hit by a boom – the large pole attached horizontally to the bottom of a sail.
The event’s organisers said the incidents happened on the Flying Fish Arctos and Bowline.
The first boats are expected to arrive in the city of Hobart, in Tasmania, later on Friday or early on Saturday. Several have already retired due to bad weather.
New South Wales (NSW) police said the first incident was reported to officers just before midnight on Thursday local time (12:50 GMT) by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority in the country’s capital, Canberra.
Just over two hours later, at 02:15 on Friday, NSW police were told that crew aboard the second boat were giving CPR to the second person, which also had not worked.
Flying Fish Arctos had been sailing approximately 30 nautical miles east/south-east of the NSW town of Ulladulla, the organisers said.