The search for three missing UK sailors has been called off.

The decision was made after the life raft on the missing yacht Cheeki Rafiki was found unused in its storage space on the vessel.

The yacht, along with four British sailors, went missing last Friday after it capsized while on the way from Antigua to Southampton.

A US navy helicopter discovered the upturned hull of the ship about 1,000 miles off the coast of Massachusetts.

The cabin was found to have flooded and the search operation ended after officials deemed that the only realistic means of survival had not been deployed.

The search had originally been called off last Sunday, but was resumed on Tuesday after the families of the missing men claimed that US authorities were giving up too easily.