One dead, six missing Tornado sinks yacht - mother rescues toddler with her last ounce of strength
Surprised by a tornado: the 56-metre luxury sailing yacht "Bayesian" sank off the coast of Sicily. One person has lost their life. The authorities are still searching for six missing persons.
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- At least one person died when a sailing yacht sank off the coast of Sicily on Monday. Six people are missing.
- According to reports, the boat sank off the port of Porticello at around 5 o'clock in the morning. The media reported a violent storm in the region during the night.
- Helicopters and ships from the coast guard and fire department are being used to search for the missing persons.
- A mother on board was able to keep her toddler afloat with the last of her strength.
She was 56 meters long and was one of the most expensive sailing yachts in the world: now the "Bayesian" has sunk off the coast of Sicily. At least one person has died and six others are missing.
The ship was anchored near Porticello when it was surprised by a tornado. According to a statement from the Italian coastguard, the British-flagged "Bayesian" sank in the early morning at around 5 a.m. following a strong storm. The seven people initially missing were four Britons, two US citizens and one Canadian.
Divers later discovered a body inside the yacht, which was lying at a depth of 50 meters, but it has not yet been recovered. 15 crew members and passengers of the "Bayesian" were rescued.
According to eyewitness reports, chaotic scenes unfolded in the water during the accident. One of the survivors, a British woman named Charlotte, told the newspaper "La Repubblica" that she briefly lost sight of her one-year-old daughter in the water, but then managed to keep her above the waves. "Everything was dark. I couldn't keep my eyes open in the water. I called for help, but all I could hear around me were the screams of others."
"British Bill Gates" among the missing
According to the coastguard, ten crew members and twelve passengers were on board the luxury yacht at the time of the accident. Eight of those rescued were taken to hospital. Rescue workers searched the area around the sunken ship for the missing people, while helicopters supported the operation from the air.
According to British media reports, one of the missing people is tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch. He is said to own the sunken luxury yacht "Bayesian". The missing tech tycoon has been dubbed the "British Bill Gates" by tabloid media in his home country. The 59-year-old is the co-founder of the software company Autonomy, which was sold to the US group Hewlett Packard in 2011 for eleven billion pounds (currently 12.3 billion Swiss francs).
Italian media reported that the yacht was caught in a waterspout, a tornado over the sea, and that the survivors were taken on board by the crew of another ship flying the Dutch flag. The German captain described the moment of the accident to Italian media: "First the boat tipped on its side and within a few minutes it had sunk. It all happened very quickly."
According to the news website "TGCom24", the "Bayesian" was built in Tuscany in 2008 and overhauled in 2020. It has a 75-metre high mast made of aluminum and a sail area of almost 3000 square meters.
With agency material.
