A lifeboat team and helicopter were scrambled to the scene

Coastguards received a distress call to say Sunsail 47 had hit another yacht and was taking on water fast.

A helicopter winched the six to safety at Lee-on-the-Solent, Hampshire, on Saturday at 1300 BST.

A lifeboat team tried to salvage the yacht but it later sank near Brambles Bank, a sandbank between Calshot on the mainland and Cowes, Isle of Wight.

Lifeboat rescue

The two 37ft boats were hired from the sailing company Sunsail and had left Portsmouth Harbour earlier for a day sailing on the Solent.

The second boat, Sunsail 76, was also damaged in the collision but managed to make its own way back to Portsmouth Harbour.

No-one was injured in the accident, which was attended by the Gosport and Fareham Inshore lifeboat team.

A member of Solent coastguard said: "They were taken onto the lifeboat a few moments before it sank without actually getting their feet wet.

"They jumped into the lifeboat and were then winched to shore by helicopter."