A composite photo of British tech tycoon Mike Lynch with Italian firefighters aboard a rescue boat. — Reuters/File
Specialist Italian divers launched a new search on Tuesday for British tech tycoon Mike Lynch and six others, including his teenage daughter, who have been missing since their yacht capsized off the Italian island of Sicily.
According to AFP, the British-flagged yacht “Bayesian” was anchored about 700 metres from the harbour and had 22 people on board, including 10 crew members, when it was hit by a water tornado resembling a mini-tornado.
The incident occurred at dawn on Monday.
Mr Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacarès, was among the 15 people rescued, but the whereabouts of her and their 18-year-old daughter, Hannah, remain unknown, according to Salvo Cocina, head of Sicily’s civil defence.
Firefighter divers trained to work in confined spaces arrived by flight from Rome and Sardinia late on Monday but an initial search for the wreck, about 50 metres (164 feet) below the surface, was unsuccessful.
“Access was restricted to the bridge due to difficulties caused by the presence of furniture blocking the way,” firefighters told X-News.
The 180-foot luxury ship was anchored off the coast of Porticello, east of Palermo, when heavy winds and rain suddenly battered the coast, AFP reported.
“The conditions were terrible. The ship was hit by very strong winds and quickly sank,” a British survivor named Charlotte Gornski told the ANSA news agency.
Gornski said he lost his one-year-old daughter in the waves for “two seconds” but managed to grab her “as the sea got really rough.”
In the darkness, “there were a lot of people screaming,” said Gornski, who managed to get onto a life raft.
Water tornadoes often occur during severe thunderstorms and are columns of a mixture of wind and water that descend from the clouds and spin over a body of water.