Two people taking part in Australia's annual Sydney to Hobart yacht race have died in separate incidents, according to police. Both crew members died in separate incidents after being hit by a boom - the large pole attached horizontally to the bottom of a sail.

The annual Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, which starts on Thursday, takes sailors on a 628-nautical mile race that exits Sydney Harbor and plunges south along the New South Wales coastline before crossing Bass Strait, rounding Tasman Island, crossing Tasmania’s Storm Bay and pushing up the River Derwent to Hobart.