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| Mike Lynch |
'Seun Ibukun-Oni, Abuja
DAILY COURIER - One person has died and six remain missing after a luxury superyacht with 22 people on board sank off the Sicilian coast, according to Italian authorities.
The missing included British tech giant Mike Lynch, his daughter Hannah Lynch, his lawyer and others, Italy’s civil protection and authorities said on Monday. Lynch’s wife Angela Bacares and 14 other people survived.
Italy’s coastguard and firefighters brought 15 people to safety on Monday after the 50-metre (164-foot) sailboat capsized at about 5am (03:00 GMT) due to rough winds and choppy waters caused by a waterspout, Italian media reported.
One body was located in the wreck at a depth of about 50 metres, a coastguard spokesman told the AFP news agency. The victim is understood to be a man and was the yacht’s onboard chef, according to Italian media.
The boat was carrying 12 passengers and 10 crew members. The missing people were of British, American and Canadian nationality, the coastguard said.
A one-year-old girl was among those rescued, along with her mother.
A survivor identified as Charlotte Golunski said she had momentarily lost hold of her one-year-old daughter Sofia in the water, but then managed to hold her up over the waves until a lifeboat inflated and they were both pulled to safety, Italian news agency ANSA reported, quoting the mother.
“It was terrible. The boat was hit by really strong wind and shortly after it went down,” she added.
Eight people out of 15 rescued have been hospitalised, and all 15 are in stable condition, according to Italian news agency Adnkronos.
The chartered sailboat sank off Porticello, when a waterspout struck the area overnight, said Salvo Cocina of Sicily’s civil protection agency.
According to National Geographic, a waterspout roughly resembles a mini-tornado over a body of water. It likely occurred as storms and heavy rainfall have hit Italy in recent days – with floods and landslides causing damage in the north – after weeks of scorching heat.
“I was at home when the tornado struck,” fisherman Pietro Asciutto told ANSA. “I immediately closed all the windows. Then I saw the boat, it just had one mast, it was really big. I saw it suddenly sink.”
Another witness quoted by the agency said: “The boat was all lit up. Around 4:30 am, it was no longer there. A beautiful boat where there was a party. A normal joyous vacation day at sea turned into tragedy.”
Storms and heavy rainfall have swept down Italy in recent days after weeks of scorching heat, which had lifted the temperature of the Mediterranean sea to record levels, raising the risk of extreme weather conditions, experts said.
“The sea surface temperature around Sicily was around 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit), which is almost 3 degrees more than normal. This creates an enormous source of energy that contributes to these storms,” said meteorologist Luca Mercalli.
“We can’t say that this is all due to global warming but we can say that it has an amplifying effect,” he told Reuters.
Italian prosecutors in the nearby town of Termini Imerese have opened an investigation to look into what had gone wrong.
Meanwhile, fire department divers are scouring areas around the boat, which was flying a British flag. Helicopters are also aiding rescue efforts, authorities said.
Camper & Nicholsons, the managers of the yacht, said in a statement that they were “assisting with the ongoing search” for the missing people.
A UK foreign ministry spokesperson said British officials were in contact with local authorities and are willing to provide consular support to its citizens who were affected.
ANSA said the boat, named “Bajesian”, had been moored in the port at Porticello and had set sail on Sunday evening.
The vessel was built by Italian shipbuilding firm Perini Navi in 2008.
Rescue vessels are searching for survivors in the area where the accident happened, German authorities say.
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