UK tech magnate Mike Lynch and five other people are missing after their luxury superyacht sank during a freak storm off Sicily, Italy's civil protection and authorities say. Lynch's wife and 14 other people survived. Lynch, who was acquitted in June in a big US fraud trial, was among six people who remain unaccounted for after their chartered sailboat sank off Porticello when a tornado over the water known as a waterspout struck the area overnight, Salvo Cocina of Sicily's civil protection agency said.
One body had been recovered, and police divers were trying to reach the hull of the ship, which was resting at a depth of 50 metres off Porticello, near Palermo, where it had been anchored, rescue authorities said. It had a crew of 10 people and 12 passengers, the Italian coast guard said. A sudden fierce storm had battered the area overnight, and struck the place precisely where the 56-metre UK-flagged Bayesian had been moored.
"They were in the wrong place at the wrong time," said Cocina, noting that another superyacht nearby was not as badly damaged and helped rescue some of the 15 survivors, who included Lynch's wife Angela Bacares. The Bayesian was notable for its single 75-metre-high mast - one of the world's tallest made of aluminium and which was lit up at night, just hours before it sank. Online charter sites listed it for rent for up to 195,000 euros ($A321,130) a week.
One of the survivors, identified as Charlotte Emsley, said she 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. The father, James Emsley, also survived, Cocina said. Eight of the 15 people rescued and taken ashore at Porticello were hospitalised while the others were taken to a hotel.
One body believed to be the cook was found near the wreck but six others were unaccounted for and believed inside the hull, Italian fire rescue service spokesman Luca Cari said. Rescue crews located the vessel and deep-water police divers were trying to access the hull, Cari said. The operations, which were visible from shore, involved helicopters and rescue boats from the coast guard, fire rescue and civil protection service.
Fisherman Francesco Cefalu said he had seen a flare from shore about 4.30am and immediately set out to the site but by the time he got there, the Bayesian had already sunk, with only cushions, wood and other items from the superyacht floating in the water. "But for the rest, we didn't find anyone," he said from the port hours later.
He said that he immediately alerted the coast guard and stayed on site for three hours but didn't find any survivors. "I think they are inside, all the missing people." He said he had been up early to check the weather to see if he could go fishing, and surmised that a sudden waterspout had struck the yacht.
"It could be that the mast broke, or the anchor at the prow pulled it, I don't know," he said. Cocina said the crew and passengers hailed from a variety of countries: in addition to the United Kingdom and the United States, passengers and crew were from Antigua, France, Germany, Ireland, Myanmar, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Spain, he said. UK authorities said they were "providing consular support to a number of British nationals and their families".
Dutch foreign ministry spokesman Casper Soetekouw said the lone Dutch citizen on board, a man, had been rescued and was not in a life-threatening condition..
