A one-year-old British girl has been rescued after a luxury yacht capsized off Sicily with one person dead and six people missing. A desperate search operation is underway for the lost people who were on board the Bayesian that went down in bad weather off the coast by Palermo in the early hours of this morning. Witnesses have told of seeing lights on the boat earlier in the night as a party took place.
Fifteen people were rescued from the 55-metre sailing ship but another seven were unaccounted for, according to the mayor of Bagheria Filippo Tripoli, although it was later reported that a man’s body was found by the boat. Four Brits are believed to be missing as well as a Canadian and two Americans, alongside one crew member, a cook. It has emerged that among those helped to safety was a one-year-old British girl called Sophie.
She was remarkably rescued from the waves by a firefighter and taken to the Children's Hospital in Palermo as a precaution, along with her mum who has superficial injuries - she was given chest stitches for a slight graze. Sophie’s father was taken to the Civic Hospital while a further five people were being helped at an emergency centre in Bagheria. "They are all in a good condition ," said the head of the emergencies at the paediatric hospital, Domenico Cipolla: "We managed to get the parents to talk on the phone, with doctors and nurses all emotional especially with the little girl fine, the outlook is fine and we are carrying out tests only as .