Rescuers will face a ‘very complicated’ search for six missing passengers on a superyacht owned by the ‘British Bill Gates’ after it sank in a freak storm off the coast of Sicily.
Specialist divers involved in the search operation say the £30 million vessel, called the Bayesian, has come to rest on the seabed 164ft (50 metres) below the surface with ‘virtually everything intact’, with furniture blocking attempts to get inside.
The luxury yacht capsized early on Monday morning after being hit by a waterspout at around 5 am, with the captain of the doomed vessel saying ‘We didn’t see it coming’ after he and 15 others were rescued from the water.
Those involved in the rescue efforts have compared the incident to the ‘Costa Concordia disaster on a smaller scale’, adding that they would do ‘everything to recover the bodies’ amid worsening weather conditions.
The superyacht was overturned by tornado-speed winds so fast that passengers within had little chance to sound the alarm or seek assistance before they were forced to swim for their lives and those who managed to escape were left stranded in the dark ocean while the storm tore through.
Search crews discovered the body of the ship’s cook, Ricardo Thomas, in the water yesterday. As the rescue effort continues, there is growing less and less optimism that survivors may be discovered alive in trapped air pockets.
The following people have been reported missing: British computer mogul Mike Lynch, his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, head of Morgan Stanley International bank Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy, and Clifford Chance attorney Chris Morvillo, who defended Mr Lynch in a recent court case.
Mr Lynch had invited family and friends onto the yacht to celebrate his ‘second life’ after being acquitted of all charges in a US fraud trial. In an extraordinary twist his co-defendant Stephen Chamberlain – who was also cleared of the charges – has also died after being hit by a car while running in England over the weekend.
A huge waterspout slammed the opulent yacht just before 5 a.m. on Monday as it was anchored a few hundred meters off the coast of Porticello in calm seas.
Experts in nautical matters say the ship sank because, during the violent occurrence, its massive 246-foot-tall mast, which is among the highest in the world, broke and keeled over, taking the hull over the “down-flooding angle.”
Leading the Palermo Fire Brigade’s diving section, Inspector Marco Tilotta, has compared the gloomy search and rescue effort to the 2012 Costa Concordia cruise ship accident, which resulted in the deaths of thirty-three persons.
I smell something fishy going on here, pardon the pun. It seems extremely odd for a mysterious underwater storm to hit a yacht in calm waters, whilst all nearby shipping vessels were untouched, but I’m sure differing stories will come about, so it’s probably best to wait to see what the experts say.
Sadly, the sea is an unforgiving and unpredictable environment, and deadly.
There will undoubtedly be a thorough investigation. But there’s no question that the yacht’s design—specifically, the height of the mast in proportion to the weight and keel design—will be thoroughly scrutinised.
This would have been a terrible way to die, and life is so fragile. Hopefully, something better lies beyond, but there’s something very odd about all of this.
The incident and reporting are completely inaccurate, and there may be more to this than meets the eye. This story doesn’t make sense at all. Vessels have crossed the Atlantic, yet this one capsized in calm waters!
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 