Three sailors who endured a nightmare ordeal on the open seas after their yacht sank in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean have arrived safely in Bermuda.

British couple Leonard and Lisa Rorke, along with crew member Henri Worthalter, from Belgium, were tossed by 25ft waves in a fragile life raft after abandoning ship 900 miles northeast of the Island on Thursday evening.

The trio, along with their pet Jack Russell terrier, were forced into the life raft after their 49ft yacht Blue Pearl began taking on water during a three-week voyage to Europe from the Caribbean.

The British-registered tanker Tilda Kosan was among three vessels that answered a distress call, and picked up the stricken sailors in the early hours of Friday — six hours after the sailors had swapped their yacht for the life raft.

In appalling conditions, the 351ft tanker had to make three passes in the dark before it could manoeuvre alongside the life raft.

The Mexico-bound tanker detoured to Bermuda, dropping off the three sailors and their dog at around 5.30pm yesterday.

Speaking earlier, Mr Rorke said he believed trio were lucky to be alive.

“We really did not think we were going to live,’ the computer technician said.

“It is nothing short of a miracle that we are still here and have survived. We were clinging on for life when we were found.

“We had to jump and hold on for dear life. We left with nothing, but we are just grateful to be alive. I cannot find words to adequately describe how skilful the captain was in getting alongside us. We were being tossed around in the life raft and literally clinging on for our lives.”