Five storm-tossed sailors were plucked to safety after being stranded in the ocean for several hours.

The sailors ? all Canadian ? were aboard sailing vessel heading to New Port, Rhode Island after leaving Bermuda. The men encountered a storm 250 miles off of Nantucket, Massachusetts. A US Coast Guard report said the men sustained three days of gale force winds which resulted in structural damage to their vessel.

The captain radioed the Coast Guard on Saturday afternoon and said the crew no longer felt safe on the vessel and needed to be rescued. The men were located by a Coast Guard aeroplane, which circled above them for five hours while waiting for a helicopter to make its way to the scene. The men were hoisted on to a HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter and taken to the Atlantic City air station in New Jersey. The men, Phillip Carson, John Crosland, David DeLuca, David Maclaren and Michael Togner, were aged between 54 and 65. They were inspected by emergency medical officers and released.