Shipwreck in Sicily: six people found dead, another wanted

The bodies of five people who disappeared when the sailboat “Bayesian” sailed in Sicily were found this Wednesday, August 21, after three days of searching. The death toll therefore stands at six and one person is still missing.

The toll from the sinking of a sailboat off the coast of Palermo, in Sicily, is increasing. The bodies of five people were recovered. found é inside the wreck of the yacht this Wednesday August 21, three days after the sinking, reports BBC. The number of victims is now at an all-time high. six people and another occupant of the boat are still being sought. The search continues at sea, but the chances of finding the occupants of the sailboat "Bayesian” are dwindling & As the hours pass and the discoveries of the day leave little hope as to the chances of finding the last missing people alive.

It was around 5am on Monday 19th August when the 56m British-flagged “Bayesian” sailboat sank after being hit by a waterspout, a highly dangerous meteorological phenomenon characterised by a rotating column of air and water. On board were twelve passengers and ten crew members, the majority of whom were British nationals. While fifteen of them were found safe and sound, all seven were reported missing. Of the missing, five were found in the wreckage at a depth of 50 metres.

Who are Mike Lynch and the other wanted people ?

British tech mogul Mike Lynch and his daughter Hannah are among those missing aboard the luxury yacht. The owner of the sunken boat, nicknamed the “British Bill Gates”, had organised a cruise aboard his superyacht to celebrate with his family, several of his employees and his lawyers, a party after being acquitted in a fraud case in the United States. Thus, among the others still wanted are Chris Morvillo, the partner lawyer at the law firm Clifford Chance and his wife, as well as Jonathan Bloomer, the chairman of the board of directors of Morgan Stanley International and his wife.

The search operations conducted by firefighters since the sinking have been perilous. Firefighters trained in deep-sea diving from Rome and Sardinia have also been mobilized on site to assist local rescue services and try to find the bodies of the four remaining missing persons, probably trapped inside the wreck. Intact and on its right side, access to it is made difficult due to “the presence of furniture which obstructs the entrance”, indicated on X (ex-Twitter) the firefighters.

The heavy swell observed off the coast of Sicily further complicates operations. Grouped together in a hotel, the survivors have the opportunity to meet psychologists assigned to their disposal.

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21:10 – The search stops for the night

The search will stop for the night, announced the Italian rescue services. It will resume tomorrow. One person is still missing.

20:20 – Survivors testify

According to Fabio Genco, head of the Palermo emergency services that treated the survivors, “the word that the mother and all the wounded kept repeating was 'darkness', the darkness they experienced during the sinking.” “They talked about about five minutes, maybe three to five minutes, between the moment the boat was lifted by the waves and the moment it sank (…) There were truly apocalyptic scenes where everyone was searching and hoping to find” the missing people, he detailed.

A fifth body was found in the wreck by divers. The death toll now stands at six, with the first body having been found yesterday. One person is still missing.

18:41 – Identifications are underway

The four bodies found in the wreckage have been brought back to land. The Italian authorities are currently carrying out identifications.

17:40 – Research aided by remote-controlled underwater drones

The search for the site of the wreck of the sailboat is being carried out by experienced divers, but is being aided by technical means such as remotely piloted underwater drones called “remotely operated underwater vehicles” or ROVs. These robots used by the Sicilian coastguard can remain underwater for up to six or seven hours and dive to depths of 300 metres. They are equipped with cameras that allow divers to spot the presence of people or bodies in and around the wreck, in more difficult-to-access corners.

After the discovery of two bodies earlier in the afternoon, two more missing people were found inside the wreck of the sailboat, 50 metres deep, the BBC reports, citing the Sicilian civil protection agency. The bodies of the third and fourth victims found this Wednesday are still in the hull of the boat, while those of the first two have been brought back to shore. The identities of the victims are still not clear.

16:29 – Who are the people missing after the sinking of the sailboat ?

Six people were missing on Wednesday morning before the discovery of two bodies. Italian authorities have not released the identities of those found, but here are the names of the six people wanted, as reported by the BBC, including two of the victims who were found.

• British businessman Mike Lynch, who helped found Cambridge Neurodynamics and co-founded the company Autonomy
• His daughter Hannah Lynch, an 18-year-old student
• Joanthan Bloomer, chairman of Morgan Stanley Bank International
• His wife Judy BloomerChris Morvillo, associate of the law firm Clifford Chance
• His wife Neda Morvillo, a jewelry designer

The yacht's chef, Canadian national from Antigua Recaldo Thomas, was found Monday. He was the seventh person reported missing after the sinking.

The bodies of two people were found at inside the “Bayesian”, the luxury yacht that sank off the coast of Sicily on Monday morning, Reuters news agency and Italian media reported on Wednesday, August 21. The identities of the two people found have not yet been released.