Divers reportedly spotted bodies
through the portholes of a sunken superyacht as they recovered the body of a
man from around 50 meters below the surface. One person has been confirmed dead
& six remain missing after a luxury vessel, carrying mostly British
passengers, was affect by a tornado and sank off the Sicilian coast, according
to Italian media reports.
Among the 15 people saved was a
one-year-old English girl, who was taken to a children’s hospital with her
mother. The mother received stitches for a minor chest injury. She later
recounted the terrifying moment when she briefly lost her daughter in the water
before they managed to board a lifeboat together.
As divers searched the wreckage,
they reported seeing “corpses through the portholes” before recovering a man's
body near the yacht, Salvo Cocina, head of Sicily’s Civil Protection,
confirmed. The British-flagged superyacht, “Bayesian”, was anchored off
Porticello in Palermo when it capsized around 5 a.m. local time. Ship-tracking
site “Marine Traffic” and local media reported that the area had been hit by waterspouts—tornadoes
that form over water - as strong winds ravaged the region overnight.
The 56-meter (183-foot) yacht,
described as one of the world’s largest, had 10 crew members and 12 passengers
from the UK, the US, and Canada. Reports also mentioned individuals from New
Zealand, Sri Lanka, Ireland, and British-French nationals among the 22 people
on board. The identity of the man whose body was recovered has yet to be
confirmed.
Mother’s Account of the Rescue
A 35-year-old mother, who
survived with her baby daughter, shared her harrowing experience with “Giornale
Di Sicilia”. "For two seconds, I lost my baby in the sea, but then I found
her again amidst the chaos of the waves,” she said. “I held her tightly as the
sea raged around us. Many were screaming. Luckily, the lifeboat inflated, and
11 of us managed to get on board.”
Eyewitness Accounts
Local fisherman Pietro Asciutto
described witnessing the storm from his home in Porticello. “I saw the boat - it
had one mast, and it was huge. Suddenly, it just sank,” he told “Giornale di
Sicilia”. He added that the tornado seemed to originate from Porticello, and
after venturing down to Santa Nicolicchia Bay, he saw the yacht disappear
beneath the waves.
Another fisherman, Fabio Cefalu,
spotted the wreckage and called rescue services. “At around 3:55 a.m., we saw
the whirlwind. Shortly after, we spotted a flare about 500 meters from the
dock. By 4:35 a.m., we were at sea, but all we found were the remains of the
boat,” he explained, adding that there were no people in sight at that time.
save operations are ongoing, with
helicopters and boats from the coast guard and fire services continuing to
search for the missing. Local mayor Filippo Tripoli confirmed the occurrence,
saying that emergency services were fully running and that volunteers from the
Red Cross were assisting in the recovery effort. A spokesperson for the UK’s
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) stated : “We are in contact
with local authorities following the occurrence in Sicily and are ready to
provide consular support to British nationals affected.”
