One person is dead and six people are missing after a luxury British yacht sank in a “tornado” and rough seas off the coast of Sicily . A 50-metre sailboat with 22 people on board sank in the early hours of Monday off the coast of the Sicilian capital Palermo , with four Britons among the seven missing, Italian media outlets reported. The person who was found dead was discovered by a diver this morning but their nationality or gender has not been confirmed, Sky Italia reports.
Italy's Coast Guard and firefighters rescued 15 people, including a one-year-old child, after the boat, flying a British flag, sank when a whirlwind and rough seas hit the area at sunrise. Most of the passengers were British, but the boat was also carrying two Anglo-French citizens, an Irish national, a New Zealander and a Sri Lankan, news agency Adnkronos has reported. Have you been affected by this story? Email rachel.
[email protected] The 15 people rescued from the 160-foot sailboat after the disaster are all in stable condition, Adnkronos has said.
The BAIA Santa Nicolicchia restaurant in Porticello wrote on its Facebook page that the yacht sank at around 4am, saying it is an “unbelievable tragedy” and that they were “lost for words.” One anonymous witness told Rai News: “That boat was all lit up. At about 4:30 in the morning, it was gone.
A beautiful boat where there had been a party. A normal holiday spent happily at sea turned into a tragedy. The boat was not far from the port.
It took very little to raise the anchor and head for the port. Evidently they were surprised by the storm that suddenly hit and they were unable to avoid sinking.” Divers from the fire department are continuing searches around the vessel, situated around half a mile off the coast.
The British foreign ministry had no immediate response to a request for comment. More follows on this breaking news story..
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