One person has died and six others are reported missing after a luxury superyacht sank off the coast of the Sicilian capital of Palermo as storms swept across Italy, including British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch.
The 184ft-long Bayesian ship, flying under the British flag, was carrying 12 passengers and 10 crew when it was struck by a tornado – a rotating column of air that forms over a body of water, similar to a hurricane – at around 4am on Monday morning. Fifteen people, including a one-year-old girl and her mother, were rescued and eight were taken to local hospitals for treatment of their injuries. Local media reported that the victims were in stable condition.
Emergency services reportedly recovered a body from the water after the incident. None of those missing or dead have been identified, but the Italian coastguard said British, American and Canadian nationals were among those missing. However, a source in the rescue operation confirmed Lynch was among those missing.
The last photo of Bayesian, thought to have been taken around 10pm on Sunday night, was posted to Facebook by a local restaurant in Palermo. “An incredible tragedy tonight,” the caption read. “I'm out of words.”
Local fisherman Francesco Cefalu said he saw a flare from the shore at around 4.30am and immediately went to the area by boat. But by the time he got there, he said the Bayesian had already sunk and there was debris such as boards and cushions floating in the water. After notifying the coastguard, he remained in the area for three hours as part of a rescue operation but found no survivors. “I think they are inside, all the missing people,” he said Independent.
Storms have hit Italy particularly hard in recent days after weeks of scorching heat, with heavy rain causing floods and landslides that reported extensive damage in the northern part of the province.
“The wind was very strong. Bad weather was expected but not of this magnitude,” an official from the Italian coastguard said Reuters.
Karsten Borner, the captain of a nearby ship, said he had to start his own ship's engine during the storm to take control and avoid colliding with the Bayes. “We managed to hold the ship in position, and after the storm was over we noticed the ship behind us was gone,” he recalled, adding that the other boat was “lying flat on the water and then going down.”
He also said his crew found some survivors, three of whom were seriously injured, in a lifeboat and took them on board before the coastguard arrived.
Known as the “Britain's Bill Gates”, Lynch, 59, is best known for founding Invoke Capital and Autonomy Corporation. In June, he was acquitted by a jury in a high-profile fraud case in San Francisco stemming from the $11 billion sale of his software company to Hewlett-Packard in 2011. His wife, Angela Bacares, was reportedly among those rescued.