A BRITISH sailor is lost at sea after his yacht was found “eviscerated“.

The 73-year-old was sailing in the Atlantic in stormy weather when he set off his distress beacon on Saturday.

He got into difficulty around 80k west of Lacanau, southwestern France.

French authorities said they had received an alert from counterparts in the UK on Friday evening after the yacht failed to respond to radio messages.

A Portuguese cargo ship later managed to make radio contact after several attempts.

But at around 3pm on Saturday the boat’s distress beacon sounded.

The French air force deployed a helicopter to search for the sailor.

Rescue crews spotted his 40ft yacht, the Tiger PA, in the Bay of Biscay and winched two divers down to the wreckage.

It was found “eviscerated” at about 5.30pm, authorities said.

An empty life raft was also found nearby and the search was called off in the early hours of Sunday.

Officials said the hunt was closed “due to a lack of information”.

French media said the Atlantic had been battered by high winds at the onset of Storm Herminia.

A yacht under the same name was last recorded in Weymouth, Dorset, last week, the Vesselfinder website shows.