Yantai, Shandong - One American and two Chinese men were rescued Friday morning from a private yacht that broke down on north China's Bohai Sea Thursday night, Chinese rescuers said Friday.

The American man, Richard M Wolff, set out Thursday evening from Laizhou in Shandong Province in the yacht he had just bought. He and the two Chinese people aboard were heading for Dalian in Liaoning Province. However, the craft lost power about 20 nautical miles off the Shandong coast, rescuers said.

The Beihai Rescue Bureau under China's Ministry of Communications received the SOS signal at 9:19 p.m. on Thursday and immediately sent a rescue boat to save the people.

At 11:15 p.m., Chinese rescuers found the yacht and started towing it to Dalian.

At 6:45 a.m. on Friday, the Beihai Rescue Bureau sent out another life boat for assistance and the yacht arrived safely at the port of Dalian at 7:30.

The bureau didn't provide any other information about the three rescued people.

The Bohai is an inland sea enclosed by the Shandong and Liaodong peninsulas. The smallest of China's seas, it covers an area of 77,000 square kilometers.