Divers resumed their search Wednesday for six people missing after the British tech entrepreneur’s yacht sank Mike Lynch off the coast of Sicily two days ago, although hopes of finding them alive were diminishing.
The Bayesian, a 56-metre-long, British-flagged superyacht, was carrying 22 people and was anchored off the port of Porticellonear Palermo, when it sank on Monday during a strong storm.
Fifteen people survived and the body of one crew member was recovered. Lynch was among the six missing.her 18-year-old daughter and Jonathan Bloomernon-executive chairman of Morgan Stanley International.
Underwater inspection of the wreck resumed early Wednesday morning.the fire department said on social media, after previously describing the operations as “long and complex.”
He yacht It was lying on its side at a depth of about 50 metres, giving divers 8 to 10 minutes to inspect it before having to return to the surface. Efforts have been hampered by “very confined” spaces inside the wreck, fire department spokesman Luca Cari said.
The Italian coastguard said it is using a remote-controlled vehicle to survey the seabed and take underwater photos and videos. that could provide “useful and timely elements” for the ongoing investigations into the catastrophe.
Experts are at a loss to explain how a luxury boat, supposedly equipped with first-class accessories and safety devices,could have sunk in a matter of minutes, according to witnesses. Another yacht anchored next to it was not affected by the storm.
The Bayesian, owned by Lynch’s wife, was built by Italian shipyard Perini in 2008 and last refurbished in 2020.It had the tallest aluminum mast in the world, 72 meters, according to its builders.
Its captain, James Cutfield, a 51-year-old New Zealander who survived the shipwreck, is a “very good sailor” and “very respected” in the Mediterraneanhis brother Mark told The New Zealand Herald.
Matthew Schanck, president of the Maritime Search and Rescue Council, a UK-based non-profit organisation that trains maritime rescuers, He said the Bayesian was the victim of a “high-impact” meteorological incident..
“If it is a downpour, as it appears to be, it is what I would call a ‘black swan’.”he told Reuters, referring to a rare and unpredictable phenomenon.
He expressed confidence that the authorities “will get to the bottom” of the causes of the shipwreck, thanks to the survivors’ accounts.witnesses and examination of the sunken hull, which showed no apparent signs of damage.
