Divers searching the wreck of the luxury yacht that sank Monday off the coast of Sicily have reportedly found the bodies of all six missing people.
English banker Jonathan Bloomer and American lawyer Chris Morvillo have been confirmed to be among the bodies recovered, along with the bodies of tycoon Mike Lynch and his daughter.
British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, his teenage daughter Hannah Lynch, Morgan Stanley International chairman Jonathan Bloomer, his wife Judy and Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda have been missing since Monday morning when the vessel.
The 56m British-flagged Bayesian was carrying 22 people and was moored just off the coast near the port of Portikelo when it was hit by what is believed to be a tornado or torrential downpour.
The body of the boat’s chef, Recaldo Thomas, was found shortly after the boat sank.
Citing a source, Reuters said four more bodies were found on Wednesday, but did not immediately give the names or gender of the victims. Firefighter diver sources later told the Guardian that the last two bodies had been recovered.
Some British media reports that two of the bodies are those of Lynch and his daughter. The Guardian could not independently confirm this and there has been no official confirmation from the authorities.
They saw body bags being brought into the harbor by fire boat and lifted up on the quayside.
The search was difficult for rescue teams, who struggled to reach the hull of the vessel. Once the hull was breached, further search was hampered by furniture and debris.
Investigators are interviewing witnesses and survivors. The yacht’s captain, James Catfield, 51, was reportedly questioned for more than two hours.
The port authority has launched a separate investigation from that of the prosecutor’s office in the Sicilian city of Termini Imerese to establish whether all appropriate safety measures were taken by the crew.
It is understood that four inspectors from the UK’s Maritime Accident Investigation Branch are in Sicily to make a preliminary assessment.
Under the “microscope” the open hatches and their role in the sinking
The British-flagged Bayesian, a 56m sailing vessel, was carrying 22 passengers and crew and was moored just outside Porticello harbor when it capsized during a heavy storm before dawn on Monday.
A Reuters photographer saw coastguard vessels leaving Porticello in the morning heading for the crash site after the search was called off overnight.
According to the Italian news agency ANSA, late on Tuesday, fire service divers managed to remove a three-meter-wide window from its hinges and used the opening as an entry point. They were able to reach the common area of the boat, but not the cabins, the Italian fire service said. Rescuers said this will take some time as some entrances may be blocked. Efforts are continuing, although the vessel is lying on the seabed on its starboard side, a position that makes operations more difficult.
With the sunken vessel lying at a depth of about 50 meters, efforts to locate survivors or bodies are becoming difficult.
Fire officials say divers only have 8-10 minutes at the wreck site before resurfacing. Their efforts are being hampered by the “very narrow spaces” inside the sunken vessel, fire service spokesman Luca Cari said.
Experts are struggling to explain how a large luxury yacht, which reportedly had the highest level of equipment and safety features, could have sunk within minutes, according to eyewitnesses. Another yacht, which was anchored next to it, was not harmed by the storm. Publications as well as experts are considering the possible role in the sinking of the ship that the open hatches on the deck played.
Matthew Shank, president of the Maritime Search and Rescue Board, said the Bayesian was the victim of a very intense and rare weather event.
“Looking at the extreme weather, if it was a water vortex, as it appears to have been, I would categorize it as a black swan event” — an event that is very difficult to predict under normal circumstances, but in hindsight it seems inevitable), he told Reuters.
He said he was confident authorities would go “to the bottom” of what caused the wreck, thanks to descriptions from survivors, witnesses and an examination of the ship, which appears to remain intact on the seabed.
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