Prime Minister David Cameron confirms that the US Coast Guard will resume searching for the four missing British yachtsmen
The US Coast Guard will resume the search for the missing crew of Cheeki Rafiki.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron tweeted this afternoon: “My thanks to the US Coastguard, which has resumed its search for our missing yachtsmen.”
The decision comes just hours after rescue crews in the US concluded that there was no hope of finding the four British sailors that went missing on Friday.
Speaking to ITV earlier today, UK Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said: “It’s a terribly sad situation but the conclusion they have reached is that there is no hope of rescuing these people now.
“This is in the United States [and] Canadian air sea rescue area, they are the responsible authority and they have assets in situ to search this area and they have searched it very extensively.”
More than 176,000 people signed an online petition calling for the search to be resumed.
A number of high-profile names have also supported the campaign including adventurer Ben Fogle, veteran yachtsman Tony Bullimore and UK Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt.
The four British sailors got into difficulty on Thursday when their Beneteau Oceanis 40.7 began taking on water.
The yacht, which was returning to Southampton after Antigua Sailing Week, diverted to the Azores as a result but communication with the crew was lost on Friday.
A search for the missing vessel was carried out over the weekend and finally called off on Sunday after finding no signs of the men.
An upturned yacht without a keel, believed to be the missing boat, was pictured by a container ship involved in the search on Saturday.
Despite the possible sighting, they were unable to examine the vessel further due to the weather conditions.
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