One dead, six missing after luxury yacht sinks off Sicily

PALERMO: One person died and six people were missing after a luxury yacht was hit by an unexpectedly strong storm and sank off the Sicilian capital Palermo on Monday, the Italian coast guard said.

The 56-meter (184-foot) sailboat was identified as the British-registered Bayesian and sank with 22 people on board shortly before sunrise, the coastguard said in a statement.

The missing people were of British, American and Canadian nationalities, the coast guard said. Among the 15 people rescued was a one-year-old child.

“The wind was very strong. Bad weather was expected, but not of this magnitude,” said a coast guard official in Palermo. Reuters.

Storms and heavy rain have swept Italy in recent days with floods and landslides causing major damage in the north of the country, after weeks of heatwaves.

Eight of those rescued were taken to local hospitals. All were in stable condition, local media reported.

said the captain of a nearby boat Reuters that when the storm hit he started the engine to maintain control of the boat and avoid a collision with the Bayesian.

“We managed to hold the ship in place and after the storm ended, we noticed that the ship behind us had gone,” Karsten Borner told reporters.

He said his crew then found some of the survivors in a life raft, including three who were seriously injured, and brought them aboard before being picked up by the Coast Guard.

Borner said “a small baby and the owner’s wife” were among the survivors, while the owner of the sunken ship and another child were among the missing.

The Coast Guard said the boat was found at a depth of 49 meters and that divers were inspecting the wreckage.

Prosecutors in the nearby city of Termini Imerese have launched an investigation to investigate what went wrong.

A UK Foreign Office spokesman said British officials were in contact with local authorities about the incident and were ready to provide consular support to Britons affected.