Wellington  - Two men and one woman on a crippled yacht that ran out of fuel between Australia and New Zealand were airlifted to safety Tuesday, news reports said.

The 13-metre Boundless, sailing from Brisbane to Auckland, activated an emergency beacon on Monday after its sail was damaged in heavy seas.

A New Zealand Air Force plane located it and monitored the boat's progress as the crew motored towards New Zealand.

But the yacht activated a second distress beacon on Tuesday afternoon after running out of fuel, 280 kilometres north-west of New Zealand's North Cape.

An emergency services' helicopter took fuel to the boat but the crew decided to abandon ship and were winched to safety and flown to Whangarei, Radio New Zealand reported.

A navigation warning was issued advising ships to avoid the abandoned yacht which was left to drift.(dpa)