PORTICELLO, Italy (Reuters) – Divers resumed a search on Wednesday for survivors after British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch’s yacht sank off the coast of Sicily amid an intense storm two days ago, though hopes dwindled of finding the six missing people alive.
The British-flagged Bayesian, a 56-metre-long (184-ft) superyacht, was carrying 22 passengers and crew and was anchored off the port of Porticello, near Palermo, when it capsized during a fierce, pre-dawn tempest on Monday.
Fifteen people survived, the body of one person who died was recovered promptly, and six people remain unaccounted for, including Lynch, his 18-year-old daughter and Jonathan Bloomer, a non-executive chair of Morgan Stanley International.
A Reuters photographer saw coast guard rescue vessels leave Porticello early on Wednesday to head for the site of the incident, after the search was paused overnight.
With the sunken boat lying at a depth of around 50 metres, attempts to locate survivors or bodies have been difficult.
Fire brigade officials say divers have only 8-10 minutes at the wreck site before having to resurface. Their efforts have been hampered by the “very confined” spaces inside the wreck, fire department spokesman Luca Cari said.
Experts have been at a loss to explain how a large luxury vessel, presumed to have top-class fittings and safety features, could have sunk within minutes, as recounted by witnesses. Another yacht anchored next to it was unharmed by the tempest.
Matthew Schanck, chair of the Maritime Search and Rescue Council, said the Bayesian was the victim of a “high impact” and rare weather event.
“Looking at the extreme weather, if it was a water spout, which it appears to be, it’s what I would class as like a black swan event,” he told Reuters. “And even outside of the maritime industry, all industries struggle with the black swan events.”
He said he was confident the authorities would “get to the bottom” of what caused the shipwreck, thanks to the accounts of survivors, witnesses and examination of the ship, which appears to have remained intact on the seabed.
(Reporting by Guglielmo Mangiapane and Matteo Negri, Writing by Alvise Armellini, editing by Gavin Jones and Bernadette Baum)
