The weather was “all predictable,” he continued, adding that the storm “read perfectly on all the weather charts. It just couldn’t be ignored.”
The yacht’s captain, identified as New Zealander James Cutfield, was taken to Termini Imerese hospital for treatment, where he told La Repubblica newspaper he had not expected the storm to come, according to Sky News.
Borner, the captain of the boat that rescued the 15 Baysian survivors, told NBC News he noticed the storm approaching at 4 a.m. local time and saw what appeared to be a water tornado, a type of tornado that forms over water.
“18 water tornadoes were detected off the coast of Italy today, including several powerful water tornadoes, one of which may have caused the sinking of a large yacht off the coast of Sicily,” the International Water Tornado Research Center posted on August 19.
Borner said he doesn’t know why the Baysian sank so quickly, but speculated that it may have been because it had incredibly long masts (which, even with the sails down, increase the ship’s surface area exposed to the wind, potentially leading to capsizing).
Sicily’s civil defence agency, Salvo Cocina, confirmed one person was killed and six were missing shortly after the incident on August 19, telling reporters that a water tornado had struck the area overnight.
“They were in the wrong place at the wrong time,” he said.
