#CALIFORNIA YACHT ACCIDENT - Three sailors are dead and a fourth is missing at sea after their racing yacht disintegrated after a collision with a larger boat off the coast of California, as Sky News reports.

The 37-foot racing yacht the Aegean was competing in the 124-mile Newport to Ensenada Race when it disappeared off the official race tracking system near the US-Mexico border on Saturday.

Race patrol officer Eric Lamb spotted the debris of the yacht, which investigators believe collided with a much larger ship such as a freighter or tanker. Lamb commented that the boat looked as if it "had gone through a blender".

The bodies of three crew were recovered by the US Coast Guard, but the search continues for a fourth person is still missing in the Pacific Ocean.

It marks the second major yacht racing accident to result in deaths in recent weeks, coming just a fortnight after Irish sailors Alan Cahill and Elmer Morrissey were lost in what was described as San Francisco's worst ever yachting accident.