An extensive search for a man missing after a yacht capsized ended in tragedy after crews discovered his body at sea.
Emergency services were alerted to the sinking near Lady Elliot Island off the Bundaberg coast in central Queensland about 5am on Sunday.
The keel is believed to have broken, causing the ship to capsize.
A man, 62, and his son, 27, managed to climb onto the hull of the capsized boat to activate an emergency beacon.
The RACQ LifeFlight Rescue helicopter crew flew the couple to safety at around 10.15am, almost two hours after the search began.
Another crew member, a 65-year-old man from Yeppoon, was still missing.
After hours of searching, water police located the body of the 65-year-old man shortly after 2 p.m.
The body of a 65-year-old man has been discovered after a yacht (pictured) capsized off the central Queensland coast.
The ship was traveling between Yeppoon and Brisbane over the weekend when its keel (the flat blade at the bottom of the ship) broke.
Footage from the LifeFlight helicopter shows the ship capsized about four nautical miles (7.4 km) from land.
A statement from LifeFlight revealed that they launched the helicopter around 8.30am and located the men clinging to the side of the ship two hours later.
The father and son boarded the helicopter to safety after spending more than five hours in the water.
They were airlifted to Bundaberg Hospital in a stable condition.
The three men are believed to be experienced sailors.
A father and son, aged in their 60s and 20s respectively, were taken to safety after being found hours later clinging to the capsized boat.
The tragic death comes after three people died when their boat capsized during severe storms on Boxing Day last year.
The three men, Robert Holden, David Logan and Stephen Tait, were on an annual fishing trip in Brisbane’s Moreton Bay when they encountered the terrible weather.
While eight other people on board were rescued, the bodies of Logan, Tait and Holden could only be recovered after the destructive storm.
