Two crew members participating in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race in Australia are dead after separate accidents at sea, police announced late Thursday.

Organizers said Friday that two Sydney to Hobart sailors have died at sea amid wild weather conditions that forced line honors favorite Master Lock Comanche to withdraw among mass retirements.

The Cruising Yacht Club of Australia in Sydney said Friday that one sailor each on entrants Flying Fish Arctos and Bowline were killed after being struck by the boom, a large horizontal pole at the bottom of the sail.