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Seven people have been reported missing after a sailboat named Bayesian capsized and sank off Sicily in bad weather early on Monday
A sailboat believed to be carrying foreign tourists capsized and sank off Sicily in bad weather early on Monday, and seven people were missing, authorities said, according to the Associated Press.
Fifteen people were rescued from the 49-metre sailboat, but another seven were unaccounted for, said Luca Cari, a spokesman for the Italian fire rescue service.
He said a helicopter and rescue boats from the coast guard and fire rescue service were at the scene searching for the missing. The boat capsized at around 5am off Palermo. Local media said a fierce storm, including water spouts, battered the area overnight.
The daily Il Giornale de Sicilia reported the sailboat was flying a British flag and had mostly British passengers on board, but also people from New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Ireland and British-French citizens. The ANSA news agency said the boat, which it said was named Bayesian, had been moored in the port at Porticello and had set sail on Sunday evening.
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Bayesian, the yacht which capsized in Italy, is 56 metres long, according to ship tracking website VesselFinder.
She was built in 2008 by Italian company Perini Navi. Her registered owner is listed as Revtom Ltd.
There is little publicly-available online information about the company, which appears to be based on the Isle of Man.
Bayesian completed a number of sailings in recent days, calling at various ports in Sicily.
The Department of Foreign Affairs has issued a statement in relation to the incident in Sicily to the Irish Mirror.
"The Department of Foreign Affairs is aware of the incident and is providing consular assistance," the statement reads.
"As with all consular cases, the Department does not comment on the details of any specific case."
A mother of a one-year-old child has spoken of the terrifying moment she lost her one-year-old daughter amidst the turmoil on the sunken boat before reclaiming her again almost immediately.
"For two seconds I lost the little girl in the sea, then I immediately hugged her again amid the fury of the waves," Charlotte, who was on the boat with her husband and daughter Sophie, 1, as well as work colleagues from London, told Giornale Di Sicilia.
"I held her tight, close to me, while the sea was stormy. Many were screaming. Luckily the lifeboat inflated and 11 of us managed to get on it."
Sophie is now recovering at a children's hospital in the company of her parents.
"I was at home when the tornado hit. I immediately closed all the windows. Then I saw the boat, it had only one mast, it was very big. I saw it sink suddenly," local fisherman Pietro Asciutto told Giornale Di Sicilia.
Another eyewitness, Fabio Cefalù, said: "At around 3:55 we saw the whirlwind. After a quarter of an hour we saw a rocket 500 metres from the dock. At around 4:35 we went out to sea to provide assistance, but we only saw the remains of the boat floating. There were no men in the sea. So we immediately called the port authority."
CCTV footage taken from Porticello last night shows the moment violent winds hit the Italian coastal town in sunny Palermo.
The video, posted this morning (see above), captures the sudden shift in conditions, with a seemingly peaceful stretch of the port descending rapidly into chaos as tables, chairs and boats are cast around the area. A wall of water can be seen crashing down, soaking the area as it is cleared of objects before it quickly returns to calm once more.
According to Italian daily Il Fatto Quotidiano, a body has been found and recovered by rescuers, with the Coast guard still searching for six other passengers. The remaining 15 on board have been rescued.
Early information suggests that the Irish national is not among the passengers that remain missing, who are believed to be four British tourists, two Americans and a Canadian national.
It is not yet known whether the Irish national on board the sailboat is one of the seven people reported missing. The Department of Foreign Affairs has been contacted for comment.
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