Hope is fading of finding the missing British crew of the Cheeki Rafiki, after the hull of the yacht was discovered with the life raft unused.

The US coastguard called off its search on Friday night after underwater imagery of the hull taken by a US Navy diver showed that the life raft was still attached to the yacht and had not been deployed.

The cabin was completely flooded and there were no signs of survivors on board the vessel, which was discovered 1,000 miles (1,609km) east of Cape Cod in Massachusetts.

The keel of the yacht was found to have been broken off, which caused a breach in the hull.

The missing crew are Andrew Bridge, James Male, Steve Warren, and Paul Goslin.

Prime Minister David Cameron said:

“My thoughts are with the families and friends of the crew of the Cheeki Rafiki after the sad news that its hull has been found with the life raft un-used.

“My sincere thanks to the US coastguard for leading the international search with great dedication – and to the US Navy, the Canadian authorities and to our own RAF C-130 aircraft who took part in it.”