PORTIÇELO, Sicily – Salvage crews managed to recover the body of at least one person who drowned on a yacht that sank off the coast of Sicily on Wednesday, as the search for other missing passengers continued and questions were raised about why the yacht sank so quickly.
Search teams brought a shrouded body to the port of Porticello. This confirms that it is no longer hoped that survivors will be found from the operation, but that the search is mainly being made to find the bodies of the victims.
The British-flagged yacht Bayesian, about 56 meters in length, sank during a storm on Monday while anchored about 1 kilometer from the coast. Civil defense officials said they believe the yacht was hit by a tornado over the sea and quickly sank.
Fifteen people managed to get away in a dinghy and were rescued by a nearby sailboat. The body of the chef from Antigua, Recaldo Thomas, was found on Monday.
Six people remain missing, including British tech tycoon Mike Lynch, his 18-year-old daughter and associates who had recently successfully defended him in a federal trial in the United States on charges of financial fraud.
Meanwhile, investigators from the prosecutor's office in Termini Imerese were gathering evidence for their criminal investigation, which they began immediately after the tragedy, even though no suspect had been publicly identified.
Many questions have been raised as to why the superyacht, built in 2008 by the Italian shipyard Perini Navi, sank so quickly, while the nearby sailboat, the Sir Robert Baden Powell, remained untouched by the storm. and managed to save the 15 survivors.
Was it simply the case of an unusual tornado that overturned the ship and allowed water to enter it?
Yachts such as the Bayesian have an underwater shaft which helps them maintain stability, but which must be retracted to approach shallow shores. Such yachts must also have watertight subdivisions, which are specially designed to prevent a catastrophic rapid sinking, even if some parts fill with water.
“So for the ship to sink, especially so quickly, there really needs to be water coming on board very quickly and in several places along the length of the ship, which again signals that the yacht may have tipped to one side,” said Jean- Baptiste Souppez, of the Royal Institute of Naval Architects.
Meanwhile, the Italian coast guard and firefighters have continued underwater searches in dangerous conditions and with time constraints. Due to the great depth, special precautions are needed – divers working in exchange teams can stay at those depths for only about 12 minutes.
The limited dive time is designed in part to avoid decompression sickness, which can occur when divers stay underwater for long periods and then ascend too quickly, causing dissolved gas to bubble in the blood. nitrogen.
“The longer the hold, the slower the ascent should be,” said Simon Rogerson, editor of SCUBA magazine. He said the limited periods for the return of the divers suggest that the operation leaders are trying to limit the risks and the recovery time after each dive.
