YACHT SINKS OFF SICILY COAST, 1 DEAD AND 6 MISSING
A luxury superyacht has sunk off the coast of Sicily. So far, one body has been found, and six other passengers are still missing.
A search operation involving specialised divers has been taking place since the boat capsized on Monday.
The body has been identified as that of Recaldo Thomas, who’s of Canadian-Antiguan heritage. He was one of the ten crew members onboard.
It’s believed the yacht was hit by a tornado.
The six people who are still missing include the British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah; Lynch’s lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda; Jonathan Bloomer, the chairman of Morgan Stanley International bank and his wife Judy.
Two more people who worked as crew members on the yacht have been found by the Italian Coastguard. They’ve been named as Leah Randall and Katja Chicken, both Sout Africans who were crew members onboard.
Italy’s firefighting department divers are also involved in the search operation. A spokesperson for the team, Giuseppe Petrone, said the divers managed to locate a breach in the sailboat’s hull and is working to open a passage to reach the cabins.
A captain of a nearby sailboat that was located right next to the Bayesian yacht at the time of the incident said he’s “never seen a vessel of this size go down so quickly. Within a few minutes, there was nothing left. Then we saw the raft with the 15 passengers. It was a tragedy.”
Image credit: ABC