A Canadian is among several people missing after a luxury superyacht was capsized during a freak storm off the coast of Sicily early Monday. One body was found, six people remain missing and 15 people were rescued, including a one-year-old girl, authorities said. It remains unclear if the Canadian is among those missing, and has not been publicly identified by Canadian officials.
Global Affairs Canada confirmed Monday afternoon that it is aware of reports a Canadian citizen has died, and extended “deepest sympathies to everyone affected by this tragic event.” A luxury superyacht carrying foreign tourists capsized and sank off the Italian island of Sicily in bad weather early Monday. One body was found, six people remain missing and 15 people were rescued, authorities said.
(AP Video / Aug. 19, 2024) Canadian consular officials are in touch with local authorities, and for privacy reasons, “no further information can be disclosed,” a Global Affairs spokesperson said in an email to the Star. The regional Italian coast guard did not respond to the Star’s request for comment on Monday.
The sailboat, chartered by British tech giant Mike Lynch, had overturned sometime before 5 a.m. off the port of Porticello, near Palermo, where it was anchored.
It had a crew of 10 people and 12 passengers, including British, American and Canadian, the Italian coast guard said. Local media said a sudden fierce storm, including tornadoes over water known as waterspouts, had battered the area overnight but skies were clear and seas calm by Monday morning. One of the survivors, identified only as Charlotte, said she had momentarily lost hold of her one-year-old daughter Sofia in the water, but then managed to hold her up over the waves until a lifeboat inflated and they were both pulled to safety, Italian news agency ANSA reported, quoting the mother.
One body was found, six people were missing and 15 people were rescued, authorities said. (AP Video / Aug. 19, 2024) The 56-metre (184-foot) British-flagged Bayesian was known for its single 75-metre (246-feet) mast, one of the world’s tallest made of aluminum and which was lit up at night, just hours before it sank.
Online charter sites list it for rent for up to 195,000 euros (about $295,000 Canadian) a week. Lynch, 59, built up one of Britain’s largest software firms before selling it to Hewlett Packard in 2011 for $11 billion, which put him on Forbes’ billionaires list in 2014 and 2015. The deal unravelled after Hewlett Packard accused Lynch of fraud and he was indicted by the U.
S. Justice Department in 2018. It took years to extradite Lynch from the U.
K. before he was eventually acquitted in June. The British tech giant was among the six people who remain unaccounted for.
“I am looking forward to returning to the U.K. and getting back to what I love most: my family and innovating in my field,” Lynch said after his acquittal in June.
With files from Jim Rankin and the Associated Press.
