Rescue divers smashed through the windows of the sunken Bayesian Tuesday, entering the hull — but were still unable to reach the ship’s cabins where six missing passengers may be located. The firefighter team managed to enter the body of the yacht after using jacks to break the 3-centimeter glass, Giornale Di Sicilia reported. The rescuers reached the common areas of the 184-foot luxury vessel, but have not yet made it to the cabins — where British tech tycoon Mike Lynch and five others could be hiding out and clinging to air pockets, according to one expert.
The entrances to these cabins could be blocked, officials told Giornale Di Sicilia. The search and rescue mission — made difficult because of the position of the yacht, which is resting 160 feet below the surface — could take hours. Because of the depth, divers can only stay underwater for 12 minutes at a time.
The Italian coast guard previously said the passengers’ chances of survival are slim, but not impossible. If there are survivors using pockets of trapped air inside the boat, they would only be able to continue living for another three days, experts said. The Bayesian capsized with 22 people aboard off the port of Porticello, Sicily after it was suddenly struck by a freak storm around sunrise Monday morning, officials said.
The boat was carrying a crew of 10 people and 12 passengers when it sank — 15 managed to escape before the superyacht went down. The ship’s Canadian-born chef Thomas Recaldo mar.