1 lifeless, 6 lacking after storm sinks luxurious superyacht off Sicily – Nationwide

One individual is lifeless and 6 others are lacking after a luxury superyacht was struck by a violent storm off the coast of Sicily on Monday, officers confirmed.

The vessel, a 56-metre-long British-flagged sailboat named “Bayesian,” went down off the Sicilian capital Palermo with 22 folks on board shortly earlier than dawn, the Italian coast guard mentioned in an announcement.

A Canadian is amongst these lacking, in addition to two Individuals and 4 Britons.

One of many lacking folks is British tech magnate Mike Lynch, who was acquitted in June in a giant U.S. fraud trial that delved into the historical past of Hewlett Packard’s 2011, US$11 billion acquisition of Autonomy, a enterprise software program agency based by Lynch.

The fraud accusations represented a dramatic flip within the fortunes of an entrepreneur as soon as described because the Invoice Gates of Britain — a title he appeared to reside as much as when he netted $800 million from the Autonomy sale.

It’s reported that Lynch’s spouse, Angela Bacares, was amongst these rescued and brought to shore.

A one-year-old was additionally amongst these rescued. Eight folks had been taken to hospital. The boat’s passengers consisted of 10 crew members and 12 international vacationers.

One of many survivors, recognized as Charlotte Emsley, mentioned she had momentarily misplaced maintain of her child daughter Sofia within the water, however then managed to carry her up over the waves till a lifeboat inflated and so they had been each pulled to security, Italian information company ANSA reported, quoting the mom. The daddy, James Emsley, additionally survived, mentioned Salvo Cocina of Sicily’s civil safety company.

Cocina mentioned the crew and passengers hailed from quite a lot of nations: Along with Britain, passengers and crew had been from Antigua, France, Germany, Eire, Myanmar, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Spain, he mentioned.

One physique was discovered close to the wreck, mentioned Luca Cari, a spokesperson for the Italian fireplace rescue service.

A helicopter and rescue boats from the coast guard, Carabinieri, fireplace rescue and civil safety service had been all on the scene looking for the lacking and had located the wreck at a depth of fifty metres, experiences The Related Press.

Native media mentioned a fierce storm, together with water spouts, had battered the world in a single day however skies had been clear and seas calm by Monday morning.

“The wind was very robust. Unhealthy climate was anticipated, however not of this magnitude,” a coast guard official in Palermo advised Reuters.

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Storms and heavy rainfall have hammered Italy in latest days, with floods and landslides inflicting main harm within the north of the nation after weeks of scorching warmth.

The ANSA information company mentioned the yacht, in-built 2008 by the Italian agency Perini Navi, had been moored off the port at Porticello.

The captain of a close-by boat advised Reuters that when the storm hit, he turned the engine on to maintain management of the vessel and avoid a collision with Bayesian.

“We managed to maintain the ship in place and after the storm was over, we seen that the ship behind us was gone,” Karsten Borner advised journalists.

He mentioned that his crew then discovered among the survivors on a life raft, together with three who had been critically injured, and took them on board earlier than the coast guard picked them up.

Fisherman Francesco Cefalu mentioned he had seen a flare from shore at round 4:30 a.m. and instantly got down to the positioning however by the point he bought there, the Bayesian had already sunk, with solely cushions, wooden and different objects from the superyacht floating within the water.

“However for the remainder, we didn’t discover anybody,” he mentioned from the port hours later. He mentioned that he instantly alerted the coast guard and stayed on-site for 3 hours, however didn’t discover any survivors. “I believe they’re inside, all of the lacking folks.”

He mentioned he had been up early to examine the climate to see if he might go fishing, and surmised {that a} sudden waterspout had struck the yacht. This has not been confirmed.

The shipspotting.com web site mentioned the boat was owned by a agency known as Revtom Restricted. Lynch’s spouse Bacares is known as as the only real shareholder of the agency on firm paperwork.

The yacht’s identify would resonate with Lynch as a result of his PhD thesis and the software program that made his fortune was based mostly on Bayesian concept.

The yacht can accommodate 12 passengers in 4 double cabins, a triple and the master bedroom, plus crew lodging, in accordance with Constitution World and Yacht Charters.

The vessel, which was beforehand named “Salute” when it flew underneath a Dutch flag, featured a glossy, minimalist inside of sunshine wooden with Japanese accents designed by the French designer Remi Tessier, in accordance with descriptions and images on the constitution websites.

World Information has reached out to World Affairs Canada for extra details about the incident and the lacking Canadian.

— With recordsdata from Reuters and The Related Press

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