Six people are still missing after the Bayesian, the sailboat they were on, sank. Businessman Mike Lynch and his daughter Hannah are among the missing, while one person has died.
Terrible tragedy at sea. It was around 5am on Monday when a sailboat sank off the coast of Porticello, a coastal town located about 15 kilometres east of Palermo. Named Bayesian and measuring 56 metres long, 12 passengers and 10 crew members were on board the British-flagged boat at the time of the sinking. Although fifteen people, including a baby and his mother, were rescued, six people remain missing for the time being. One person, whose body was found inside the wreck of the sailboat, has died.
As the search for those on board continues, the director of Sicilian civil protection, Salvo Cocina, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch and his daughter Hannah were among the missing. The 59-year-old businessman is the founder of software publisher Autonomy. A helicopter, divers and coastguard vessels are being deployed around the wreck of the sailboat, which was located at a depth of 50 metres, to find them. As for his wife Angela Bacares, she is safe and sound. She was admitted to a local hospital after being slightly injured in the sinking.
On the road of a waterspout
The sailboat, which was parked about 700 metres from the port of Porticello, was in the open sea when it was hit by a waterspout. A rotating column of air and water, this very dangerous weather phenomenon is increasingly being observed in Europe. A fisherman from the Sicilian town who witnessed the tragedy told the ANSA news agency that he had seen the boat sink. All lit up at the time of the sinking, “a normal holiday spent happily at sea turned into a tragedy,” he explained.
According to several Italian media outlets, a second sailboat, also present at sea near the Bayesian, quickly intervened to provide assistance to those on board before the arrival of help.