Two people on separate yachts have died during the Sydney to Hobart race overnight.At about 11.50pm, police were told a crew member on board a yacht had been struck by a sail boom.Crew members performed CPR but the injured person did not survive.

The annual Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, which starts on Thursday, takes sailors on a 628-nautical mile race that exits Sydney Harbor and plunges south along the New South Wales coastline before crossing Bass Strait, rounding Tasman Island, crossing Tasmania’s Storm Bay and pushing up the River Derwent to Hobart.

The incident aboard Flying Fish Arctos occurred around 30nm east-south esat of Ulladulla on the NSW south coast.

The Sydney to Hobart yacht race has suffered a double tragedy after two sailors died in separate incidents. New South Wales Police say a crew member of one Sydney to Hobart entry was struck by a sail boom just before midnight.