The crew of an ARC Europe yacht en route to the Azores has had to be rescued after a collision with a submerged object 600 nautical miles west of the Atlantic archipelago.

Setantii (pictured), a 2004 Sweden 42, called a mayday, after the collision severely damaged the steering, pushed the rudder up into the hull and caused water ingress.

Falmouth Coastguard received the mayday and sent the bulk carrier Esmeralda to assist. Another participant in the transatlantic rally, The Gilly of London, also altered course to assist the stricken yacht.

At 8.30am BST today the four man crew was successfully evacuated onto Esmeralda, which has now resumed its course towards the UK.

The yacht has been abandoned and is sinking. Weather conditions at the time of the incident were 20 knots from the north-west, gusting 25 knots with two to three metre seas.

Jeremy Wyatt of event organisers World Cruising Club said: ‘We are relieved that the crew of Setantii are all now safe and would like to pass our thanks on to MRCC Falmouth and Ponta Delgada for their swift response.’