Three sailors were rescued from a stricken French yacht at the weekend.

The rescue took place some 690 miles east northeast of Bermuda at midnight on Sunday.

The French yacht sent out a satellite phone distress signal at 4.45 p.m. on Saturday. According to the US Coast Guard, contact was then made with the sailors at 7.47 p.m. via satellite phone.

Crew members donned their survival suits after the yacht was flipped over and then back by 15ft to 18 ft waves.

The US Coast Guard scrambled a HC-130J Hercules aircraft from Elizabeth City, North Carolina, and this assisted in rescue efforts by a nearby vessel, the Wellington Star.

The Wellington Star an Automated Mutual-Assistance Vessel Rescue System (AMVER) ship, was guided to the scene by Fifth District search and rescue co-ordinators in Portsmouth, Virginia.

AMVER ships broadcast their position so rescue co-ordinators can divert the nearest vessel to maritime emergencies.

The Wellington Star arrived around midnight and all three sailors were transferred aboard by 12.37 a.m. on Sunday.

The crew is being taken to New Bedford, Massachusetts.