A freak storm off the coast of Sicily resulted in a “tornado” that sank a luxury yacht on Monday , killing one man and leaving six missing. While 15 of the 22 passengers onboard the 180ft Bayesian superyacht were rescued, the search continues for British technology tycoon Mike Lynch ; his 18-year-old daughter Hannah Lynch; Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer ; his wife Judy Bloomer; lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda Morvillo. Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, was among those rescued, according to local media.
Reuters reported that she owned the boat . The Associated Press said that eight of those rescued had been hospitalized , while others were relocated to a hotel. The deceased person was identified as Recaldo Thomas by the Palermo Port Authority after his body was found by divers.
The vessel’s chef, whose name was initially also reported as Ricardo Thomas, was originally from Antigua and Barbuda. The Bayesian, boasted “one of the tallest aluminium masts in the world “, according to Italian shipbuilder Perini Navi, and has been sailed a handful of times around Sicily recently. The boat was sailing under a British flag , according to ship-tracking site Marine Traffic.
Salvo Cocina, of Sicily’s civil protection agency, said that the boat had been “in the wrong place at the wrong time.” On Monday morning, there had been strong winds in the region. "The wind was very strong.
Bad weather was expected, but not of this magnitude," a coas.