A "black swan" weather event is believed to be the cause of a luxury yacht's sinking off the coast of Sicily. The British-flagged yacht, Bayesian, was likely brought down within minutes by a rare phenomenon known as a waterspout. Such weather events are "characterised by their extreme rarity and severe impact", and are dubbed 'black swan' events because they are "considered unpredictable and beyond normal expectations", said The Times .
The 56-metre sailboat sank in the early hours of Monday morning. Fifteen of the 22 people who were on board the luxury yacht at the time were rescued. Six bodies have now been brought to shore, including British businessman Mick Lynch, while the one person who is still missing is Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter, Hannah.
The boat was anchored just offshore close to Porticello when it was apparently struck by a waterspout. The exact cause of the Bayesian's sinking remains unclear, but it occurred during a storm in which "witnesses have described seeing a waterspout form" shortly before the yacht went down, according to the BBC . What is a waterspout? Waterspouts are "a whirling column of air and water mist" according to the US National Ocean Service .
They fall into two categories: fair-weather waterspouts and tornadic waterspouts. Tornadic waterspouts, which form during thunderstorms, can either develop over water or move from land to water. These waterspouts "share the same characteristics as a land tornado", said the NOS.
This type of weather .