The Friesland-based skipper who saved 15 people from the luxury yacht which capsized in a storm near Sicily on Monday said he “didn’t think, but did what was necessary”. Karsten Börner, who was born in Germany but has been living in Lemmer in Friesland for years, happened to have dropped anchor close to the stricken Bayesian, at the port of Porticello, east of Palermo when the storm hit. “We had been prepared a bit and it started blowing around 4 in the morning.
They were hurricane-force winds of 12 Beaufort,” he told local broadcaster Omrop Fryslân . Some time during the storm a waterspout, or tornado, formed, Börner said. “It was very strong and intense.
We had trouble keeping the ship on an even keel, with the anchor in place and the motor running. The yacht was just behind us and we kept an eye on it. At one point it disappeared,” he said.
“One of my guests saw a flare and then I saw another and then me and my helmsman got into the dingy and set out in the direction of the yacht. We found a life raft with 15 people on it, four of them badly injured, and a baby,” Börner told the broadcaster. After getting the people to his boat and giving them food and dry clothes, the Italian coast guard came to pick up the wounded to take them to hospital.
“It was traumatic but at a moment like this you don’t think, you just do what is necessary,” he said. The yacht, chartered by UK tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, carried 22 people, six of whom are still una.