TWO people died today (Friday) after their boat capsized off the North Yorkshire coast in "atrocious weather conditions".

The man and woman were among a group of three who got into difficulties after their cabin cruiser left Whitby Harbour at about 12.15pm.

A second man was still in a life-threatening condition in hospital.

Two of the three were recovered from the sea by the Whitby lifeboat and a third was airlifted by an RAF helicopter.

The 22ft boat was seen leaving Whitby harbour by volunteers at Whitby RNLI lifeboat station, who tried to contact the boat by radio to warn them of the dangerous sea conditions.

The boat was seen attempting to turn around soon after it left the harbour, but it capsized in the rough seas.

Whitby RNLI lifeboat launched and the crew quickly recovered two people from the sea, about 100 yards from the West Pier.

Roy Weatherill, Whitby RNLI lifeboat operations manager, said: "The weather was atrocious and when we saw the cabin cruiser heading out of the harbour we tried to contact them by VHF radio to warn them not to go out but couldn't get through.

"The lifeboat launched very quickly and the crew did an absolutely magnificent job to recover the two people from the water. RNLI crews are trained to deal with the very worst sea conditions and the incident certainly put all their training to the test."

North Yorkshire Police said the woman was airlifted to James Cook Hospital in Middlesbrough but later died.