Palermo: One man died and six people were missing, including British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch and his daughter, after a luxury yacht was struck by an unexpectedly violent storm and sank off Sicily early on Monday. The British-flagged “Bayesian”, a 56-metre-long sailboat, was carrying 22 people and was anchored just offshore near the port of Porticello when it was hit by ferocious weather, the Italian coast guard said in a statement. A coast guard vessel and a private sail boat assist the search for missing passengers after a yacht capsized off the coast of Palermo, Italy.
Credit: Getty Images Eyewitnesses said the yacht vanished quickly beneath the waves shortly before dawn. Fifteen people escaped before it went down, including Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, who owned the boat, and a one-year-old girl. The names of the dead and missing were not immediately released, but a person familiar with the rescue operation confirmed that Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter, Hannah, were not accounted for.
Italian media said the dead man was the yacht’s onboard chef. The Italian coast guard said the missing had British, American and Canadian nationalities. Survivors said the trip had been organised by Lynch for his work colleagues.
Several people, including four Britons, two Americans and a Canadian national, are missing after the 50-metre sailing yacht Bayesian carrying 22 passengers sank of the coast of Porticello in the province of Palermo. Credit: Getty Images “The wind .