Dutch Sailor Dies During Open Race

A Dutch sailor has died after being swept overboard from his yacht in heavy Atlantic seas during the Volvo Ocean Race.

Crew mates aboard the ABN AMRO Two yacht managed to pick up helmsman Hans Horrevoets but the 32 year-old failed to regain consciousness after being pulled from five-metre seas some 1,300 miles off the British coast.

A spokesman for the race said: "The crew immediately turned the boat around, took the sails down and mounted a search-and-rescue effort. Horrevoets was located and lifted on board. "However, despite the efforts of fellow crew members to resuscitate him under the direction of medical advisors from Derriford Hospital in Plymouth, Horrevoets failed to regain consciousness."

Horrevoets, who was married with an infant daughter, had been a professional sailor for more than a decade and was a late addition to the ABN AMRO Two sailing crew.

ABN Amro Two, currently fifth in the overall standings and sailing from New York on leg seven of the race, are due to arrive in Portsmouth on Saturday.

The seven-month, 58,000-kilometre (36,000-mile) Volvo Ocean Race, known as the "The Everest of Sailing" due to its extreme conditions and treacherous waters, started off in Vigo, Spain in November and is scheduled to finish in the Swedish city of Gothenburg next month.