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The search for four British sailors missing in the Atlantic is continuing after it was called off on Sunday, the BBC reported.

The US Coast Guard tweeted on Wednesday to say it had searched a total of 2,878 sq miles so far.

The 40ft Cheeki Rafiki was sailing back to the UK from a regatta in Antigua when it got into difficulties.

The coastguard said it was currently battling against six-foot seas with winds speeds at less than 18.5km per hour.

UK Ministers persuaded the US Coast Guard to resume the search on Tuesday after an official request from government.

The four missing crew members are Paul Goslin, 56, from West Camel, Somerset; Andrew Bridge, 22, from Farnham, Surrey, the yacht's skipper; Steve Warren, 52, also from Somerset; and 23-year-old James Male, from Southampton.

The rescue operation includes four sea vessels plus three aircraft, and further two boats and planes are en route to the area where the sailors are thought to have disappeared - approximately 1,000 miles east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

The wife of one of the men said it had been an "emotional rollercoaster" since all contact with the crew was lost on Friday.

Cressida Goslin - wife of one of the crew - and other members of the men's families met with Foreign Office Minister Hugh Robertson on Tuesday afternoon before leaving for the US Embassy.

The US Coast Guard, which on Monday said the search would only be resumed if "new developments about the case" emerged, agreed to deploy rescuers at the request of the UK Foreign Office.

Mr Robertson said on Tuesday afternoon the Foreign Office had been "impressing on them the need to continue the search" since the weekend.

"They're human beings and they absolutely understand what is going through the minds of the families and the relatives of all those affected," the minister said after meeting men's families.