Key unanswered questions over Bayesian yacht sinking amid desperate search for Mike Lynch and other missing passengers after £30m sailboat sunk off Sicily during freak storm
After the £30million superyacht Bayesian sank off the coast of Italy on Monday morning, many questions have been raised as the desperate search continues.
The search for six missing people continues today amid fears that bodies are still trapped in the sunken ship. Meanwhile, British tech magnate Mike Lynch and his friends celebrated his acquittal in a US fraud trial.
Mr Lynch, his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, Morgan Stanley boss Jonathan Bloomer, his wife Judy, attorney Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda are all still missing.
The ship was anchored just 300 metres from shore when it was hit by a suspected waterspout during heavy thunderstorms near the city of Palermo at around 5am.
The boat, carrying 10 crew and 12 passengers, sank quickly. The survivors were found floating in a life raft. They told how they had swum for their lives.
There are still unanswered questions about Bayesian sinking, such as why the ship capsized while other boats remained afloat.
The luxury sailing ship Bayesian was moored off the coast of Porticello when a waterspout hit the ship
The ‘Bayesian’ sailing ship, in Palermo, Sicily, Italy, that sank Monday morning
Italian search and rescue teams are searching the waters near where the boat sank
British tech magnate Mike Lynch (pictured above) is missing after his superyacht sinks
What caused the superyacht to capsize and other boats not?
An investigation is underway to determine why the Bayesian ship sank while other ships were still afloat nearby when the disaster occurred just before 5 a.m. on Monday.
The yacht, with 10 crew and 12 passengers, had the tallest aluminum mast in the world at almost 76 meters.
According to an expert, the huge mast could have caused the ship to capsize and sink quickly.
The mast broke during the waterspout, causing the ship to sink after the weight of the mast pushed the hull beyond its “downward angle”, technical adviser and nautical expert Gino Ciriaci told Italian website Corriere Della Sera.
The bizarre nature of the event was further emphasised by the fact that a Dutch sailing ship, the Sir Robert BP, anchored just a few metres from the Bayesian, survived the disaster unharmed, rescuing its 15 passengers.
Karsten Borner, the boat’s captain, described how his ship was hit by strong gusts of wind. His team tried to stabilize and maneuver the ship to avoid hitting the nearby Bayesian wave.
The superyacht was moored off the coast of Porticello, near Palermo, when a waterspout hit the vessel
Why was it in the bay when the wind was so strong?
The boat was anchored at Porticello, after leaving the coastal town of Cefalu, when it was hit by a sudden waterspout caused by bad weather and sank near Palermo.
Matthew Shank, chairman of the Maritime Search and Rescue Council, told Radio 4 this morning: ‘There were weather warnings for severe thunderstorms that evening. They are still incredibly rare weather conditions.’
The boat, carrying 10 crew and 12 passengers, sank quickly. The survivors were found floating in a life raft. They told how they had swum for their lives.
A maritime expert claims the sinking of such a large ship due to weather conditions is ‘unprecedented’, saying the superyacht should have been able to weather the storm, despite the severity of the storm at the time.
The yacht sank as a heavy storm swept through the area overnight. Local meteorologists warned that temperatures of 30 degrees Celsius, higher than normal, increased the risk of extreme weather conditions.
Survivors were dramatically rescued from the water after the disaster, including a woman who heroically saved a one-year-old British boy.
Emergency services can be seen in the harbor, near where the boat sank Monday morning
Experienced deep sea cave divers continue the rescue operation for missing persons aboard a sailboat that sank off the coast of Porticello, near Palermo, Sicily, Italy
Where did the mayday flare come from?
As the yacht began to sink, a crew member fired a distress signal to warn nearby ships.
Mr Shank told Radio 4: ‘One of the captains from the anchorage said he saw the vessel there at one point and a minute later the yacht was gone.
“He just saw the red flash, which to me indicates that it was a disaster that happened very quickly.”
Fabio Cefalu, a fisherman who witnessed the violent storm, told Italian media that he remained on the scene for several hours.
“After 10 minutes we saw a flash in the sky. We waited for about 10 minutes to see the intensity of the tornado and then went out to sea,” he said.
“We were the first to rescue, but we found no one at sea. We only found cushions and the remains of the boat.”
What happened to the missing passengers?
As the sun rose over the Mediterranean this morning, the search for the bodies of the six missing people resumed. Special divers went 50 meters (164 feet) deeper to where the ship’s wreck lies on the seabed.
During yesterday’s frantic search, bodies were found through the portholes in some cabins. Divers probably couldn’t get inside because furniture blocked access.
Search teams have already found the body of one man, believed to be a chef on board. There are fears that more bodies will be found in the hull of the ship by divers today.
Morgan Stanley International Chairman Jonathan Bloomer (pictured) and his wife are also missing.
Lynch’s attorney Christopher Morvillo (pictured) and his wife Neda are also missing.
Neda and her husband Christopher are both missing after the superyacht sank off the coast of Sicily on Monday
Firefighter divers trained to work in confined spaces were flown in from Rome and Sardinia yesterday to assist in the operation, but they were unable to gain access to the ship during their initial search beneath the water.
Officials said the people on board the boat were “in the wrong place at the wrong time” and hopes of finding anyone alive this morning have already faded.
Francesco Venuto, the spokesman for Sicily’s civil protection agency, also told the BBC that they “think [the corpses] must be there [in the boat]’.
He added: ‘We searched all day with helicopters and boats, we found nothing. That would not make sense, in [these] “If we had had the circumstances under control, we would have found something by now.”
Experienced divers reached the hull on Monday morning and more specialized teams were deployed during the day. Cables were reportedly attached between the yacht and the water surface to aid the descent.
“The specialists can get into small spaces underwater,” said a spokesperson.
Divers are searching for missing people, including British entrepreneur Mike Lynch, after a luxury yacht sank off the coast of Sicily, Italy, on August 19
Teams from the Italian Coast Guard Command and firefighters are carrying out search and rescue operations
Teams of the Italian coast guard and firefighters are carrying out search and rescue operations using helicopters and ships to find missing people after the yacht sank on Monday
Did the crew have time to close the ship’s access hatches before the storm hit?
Last night it was announced that the UK’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch is sending a team of four inspectors to Italy to carry out a preliminary assessment.
An expert who was at the scene, but did not want to be named, said the investigation would initially focus on whether the yacht’s crew had time to close the access hatches to the vessel before the storm hit.
Divers found the wreck of the ship at a depth of 187 feet, where they “saw bodies through the portholes.”