Divers searching the wreck of a superyacht that sank off Sicily discovered the bodies of five passengers on Wednesday, leaving one person still missing. Questions are mounting about why the vessel sank so rapidly when a nearby sailboat remained largely undamaged.
Rescue crews brought four body bags ashore at Porticello. Salvatore Cocina, head of the Sicily civil protection agency, confirmed a fifth body had been located. Divers plan to recover it on Thursday, while continuing the search for the sixth missing passenger.
The grim discoveries made it clear that the operation had shifted from a rescue mission to a recovery effort, given the extended time that had passed without signs of life during the three days of searching.
The British-flagged superyacht, The Bayesian, measuring 56 meters (184 feet), sank during a storm early Monday while moored about a kilometer (a half-mile) offshore. Civil protection officials suspect the yacht was hit by a waterspout—a tornado over the water.
Fifteen individuals managed to escape in a lifeboat and were rescued by a nearby sailboat. The body of the ship’s chef, Recaldo Thomas from Antigua, was recovered on Monday.
Thomas was born in Canada but spent much of his youth in Antigua before relocating there permanently in his early 20s, according to his cousin David Isaac. Italian officials had previously listed both Antigua and Canada as the nationalities of those on board.
The search effort has been driven by the fate of six missing passengers, including British tech magnate Mike Lynch, his 18-year-old daughter, and associates who had recently defended him in a U.S. federal fraud trial.
Lynch’s spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.
In the meantime, investigators from the Termini Imerese Public Prosecutor’s Office are gathering evidence for their criminal investigation, initiated immediately after the tragedy, despite no suspects having been publicly identified.
Questions linger about the rapid sinking of The Bayesian, built in 2008 by Italian shipyard Perini Navi, especially since the nearby sailboat, Sir Robert Baden Powell, remained largely unscathed and was instrumental in the rescue.
Giovanni Costantino, head of The Italian Sea Group, which owns Perini Navi, blamed human error for the disaster, which unfolded in just 16 minutes. “The ship sank because it took on water. From where, the investigators will say,” he stated to RAI state television after meeting with prosecutors.
Costantino cited AIS ship tracking data, indicating that The Bayesian took on water for four minutes before a sudden gust of wind tipped it, causing it to continue filling with water until it sank.
But was it merely a waterspout that tipped the yacht and allowed water to flood in through open hatches? What was the condition of the keel, which on a large yacht like The Bayesian might have been retractable to navigate shallower ports?
“There’s a lot of uncertainty about whether it had a lifting keel and whether it might have been up,” said Jean-Baptiste Souppez, a fellow of the Royal Institute of Naval Architects and editor of the Journal of Sailing Technology. “If it had, then that would reduce the stability and make it easier to tip over,” he explained.
The captain of the sailboat that rescued the survivors reported minimal damage—only the frame of a sun awning broke—even with winds he estimated reached level 12 on the Beaufort wind scale, the highest hurricane-strength force.
He maintained his position with engines running as the storm approached. “Another option is to lift anchor before the storm and sail downwind at sea,” Karsten Borner mentioned through a text message, although he acknowledged that might not have been feasible for The Bayesian due to its massive 75-meter (246-foot) tall mast. “If there was a stability issue because of the tall mast, it wouldn’t have been better offshore,” he noted.
Yachts like The Bayesian are mandated to have watertight sub-compartments to prevent rapid, catastrophic sinking even when parts of the vessel take on water.
The underwater search, carried out in perilous and time-consuming conditions, continued. The wreck rests at a depth that necessitates special precautions; divers working in pairs can only spend about 12 minutes searching. However, reinforcements equipped with gear for longer dives were onsite on Wednesday.
A rotation of 27 divers, including four who had assisted in the recovery after the 2012 Costa Concordia disaster off Tuscany, was involved in the Porticello wreck operation. They referred to it as a “little Concordia,” according to fire crews.
The brief dive times also aimed to prevent decompression sickness, known as “the bends,” a risk when divers stay underwater too long and ascend too quickly, forming nitrogen bubbles in their blood.
“The longer you stay, the slower your ascent has to be,” said Simon Rogerson, editor of SCUBA magazine. The tight turnaround times suggest the operation’s managers are being extremely cautious to limit risks and recovery time.
Divers also faced challenges from debris, poor visibility, and air tanks on their backs. “We’re trying to move in tight spaces, but anything can slow us down,” said Luca Cari, spokesman for the fire rescue service. “An electric panel could set us back by five hours. These aren’t normal conditions. We’re pushing the limits.”
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