Two sailors have been killed hours apart in Australia’s most prestigious annual yacht race.

The crew members died after being struck by the sail boom, a horizontal pole which holds down the sails, in separate incidents on the first night of the annual race from Sydney to Hobart, the race organiser said on Friday.

The deceased sailors were named as Roy Quaden, 55, from Western Australia and Nick Smith, 65, from South Australia.

The Flying Fish Arctos and Bowline yachts were sailing about 30 nautical miles (56km) off the New South Wales coast when the incidents occurred, the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia said.

Efforts by crew members to revive the two sailors were unsuccessful, the club said.

New South Wales marine area command superintendent Joseph McNulty told reporters that police believe the men were struck by the booms as the crews on the vessels were changing sails.

“The hull moves, the sails are moving, the booms are moving. It’s a technical change of sail at sea. So that may have contributed to the deaths of those people today,” he said.

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“Both those crews are doing it pretty tough at the moment. They are shaken up by what they’ve seen and what they’ve had to do.”

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was among those to issue condolences to the families of the two men.

“The Sydney to Hobart is an Australian tradition, and it is heartbreaking that two lives have been lost at what should be a time of joy,” Albanese said in a post on X.

“We send our love and deepest condolences to their families, friends and loved ones.”

The annual Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, inaugurated in 1945, is considered one of the world’s most challenging and prestigious yacht races.

The 630 nautical-mile race has claimed 13 lives in its nearly 80-year history, including six sailors who were killed in storms during the 1998 event.