Superyacht horror: New blow for search after hull smashed open
The search for the British tech billionaire and passengers missing after the horrific sinking of a $27m superyacht has taken a shocking turn. See the CCTV footage.
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Hope is running out for British tech billionaire Mike Lynch and the five other passengers missing in the superyacht tragedy, with Italian authorities believing the chances they will be found alive are now “minimal”.
Divers are continuing the search for Mr Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, as well as Jonathan Bloomer, chair of insurance group Hiscox and Morgan Stanley International, and his wife, Judy.
Lawyer Christopher Morvillo, who helped Mr Lynch win his dramatic acquittal in his recent fraud trial, and his wife, Neda, are also missing.
The body recovered from the sea was confirmed to be Recaldo Thomas, a chef who was part of the crew of the Bayesian yacht, the Italian coastguard said.
Vincenzo Zagarola, spokesperson for the Italian coastguard, said: “We never say never. But (as) time goes by, the hopes that they might have survived inside the hull, if they were still in there, are minimal.”
It came as horrifying CCTV footage revealed the moment the $27m Bayesian superyacht was engulfed by the storm that would eventually cause it to sink.
The new video shows the lights of the doomed vessel in the distance slowly disappear as it is swallowed by the heavy rain.
The new footage comes from the CCTV cameras just 200 metres from where the boat sank.
One witness said he looked at his cameras when he heard news of the sinking, according to Giornale Di Sicilia.
“In just 60 seconds — says the owner of the villa — you can see the ship disappear.
“Of about 20 cameras installed in the house, only one was not disturbed by the wind and rain. You can clearly see what is happening.
“There was nothing that could be done for the boat. It disappeared in a very short time.”
The $27 million luxury vessel capsized on Monday after it was caught in a tornado off the coast of Porticello, Sicily.
The frantic hunt for six people still missing is into its third day, with divers smashing a glass window to enter the hull of the yacht in the race to find survivors.
Divers were able to reach the lounge area through the gap, Giornale Di Sicilia reported, but are yet to make it to the cabins as the entrances may be blocked.
AFP reporters saw a steady stream of boats on Wednesday morning going in and out of the harbour of Porticello, east of Palermo, ferrying divers to and from the search site.
The mother of survivor Leah Randall, a crew member from South Africa, said she was “beyond relieved” her daughter’s life was spared as she paid tribute to Mr Thomas.
Mr Thomas, who was of Canadian-Antiguan heritage, was one of the 10 crew members on-board the yacht when it was hit by a tornado.
Leah and her fellow crew member, Katja Chicken, survived the tragedy.
“I’m beyond relieved that my daughter’s life was spared by the grace of God,” Heidi Randall said.
“It doesn’t make it any easier living with the heartache of those who have lost their lives or are missing.
“My very deepest condolences to the chef’s family as they formed a great friendship.”
Meanwhile, the brave British woman who held her one-year-old daughter above the surface of the sea to stop her from drowning said the disaster felt like “the end of the world”.
Charlotte Golunski told La Repubblica that she, her daughter and partner survived because they were on the deck when the yacht sank.
She said they were thrown into the water after being woken by “thunder, lightning and waves that made our boat dance”.
DIVERS IN RACE AGAINST TIME
Meanwhile, divers are in a race against time to search the wreckage of a luxury superyacht, which capsized off the Italian island of Sicily.
Police divers resumed their search for the missing passengers on Tuesday local time, attempting to reach the ship’s hull some 50 metres underwater, where officials believe the bodies of the missing may be trapped.
But divers face “significant challenges” during the rescue operation.
The clock is ticking with drivers trying to fight their way through blockages in the 50 metre deep wreck.
They have now opened a hole in the hull of the Bayesian to get in through another direction, Italian outlet Il Messaggero reports.
Furniture has made it impossible for the divers to move through the inside of the boat and reach the cabins.
The search for those missing has been slow because the Bayesian now sits 50 metres below the surface, where divers can only stay for up to 12 minutes, fire rescue officials said.
“They can stay underwater for a maximum of 12 minutes, two of which are needed to go up and down,” emergency responder Luca Cari told Italian daily Giornale Di Sicilia.
“So the real time to be able to carry out the search is 10 minutes per dive.”
Nick Sloane, an engineer who led the salvage operation for the wrecked cruise ship Costa Concordia in 2013 says rescue divers looking for survivors have entered a “critical” 24 hours — with some possibly trapped in air pockets inside the ship, but that time is running out to save them if that is the case.
Divers trained to work in tight spaces were flown in from Rome and Sardinia late on Monday, but the search was made difficult by the fact the yacht remains largely intact.
Marco Tilotta, from the Palermo fire service divers’ unit who is co-ordinating the search, said some of the divers had worked on the wreck of the Costa Concordia cruise ship, which sank off Tuscany in 2012, killing 32 people.
Tilotta told reporters that search efforts were concentrated on getting inside the sleeping and living areas of the yacht, which was lying on its side in one piece.
He said they always hope to find people alive, but the conditions below the water are clearly “prohibitive”.
When asked about the conditions that caused the boat to sink, he said: “Of our entire career as divers, however, these are events that are clearly difficult to prevent and therefore truly unlikely and difficult to manage, so I don’t dare think of what the people who were there on board experienced.”
The rescue team already searched the command bridge, which “is full of electrical cables”, but did not find anyone in the area.
“The spaces inside the sailing ship are very small and if you encounter an obstacle it is very complicated to move forward, just as it is very difficult to find alternative routes,” Mr Cari said.
“The spaces inside the boat are very tight and if you encounter an obstacle it is very complicated to move forward, just as it is very difficult to find alternative routes,” Mr Cari said.
BILLIONAIRE’S WIFE SPEAKS
Angela Bacares, the wife of missing billionaire Mike Lynch, has revealed she was woken by the superyacht tilting.
Ms Bacares, who is in a wheelchair after walking on broken glass, is anxiously awaiting news of her husband and daughter, Hannah.
She told Italian outlet La Repubblica that she woke at 4am on Monday and felt a “slight tilt” before the superyacht capsized off the coast of Sicily.
LAWYER’S EERIE FINAL POST
Missing passenger Christopher Morvillo had eerily written about his family living “happily ever after” in one of his final social media posts before vanishing with his wife in the shipwreck.
The 59-year-old lawyer, who helped British tech tycoon Mr Lynch win his recent fraud trial,
thanked the legal team who helped their success in his penultimate LinkedIn post before the tragedy.
At the end of the eerie post, he wrote: “And, finally, a huge thank you to my patient and incredible wife, Neda Morvillo, and my two strong, brilliant, and beautiful daughters, Sabrina Morvillo and Sophia Morvillo.”
“None of this would have been possible without your love and support. I am so glad to be home. And they all lived happily ever after….”
Mr Morvillo is a partner at white-collar law firm Clifford Chance, which has an office on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. He is a former federal prosecutor who worked on the criminal investigation of the September 11 terror attacks, according to his online bio. He specialises in cases involving insider trading and corporate fraud.
Clifford Chance celebrated Mr Lynch’s acquittal in a June 6 press release on its site. Mr Lynch was accused of fraud related to Hewlett Packard’s acquisition of his company, Autonomy.
“The acquittal ends a 13-year legal battle, regarded as one of Silicon Valley’s biggest-ever fraud cases,” the firm said.
Mr Morvillo and his co-counsel added, “This verdict closes the book on a relentless 13-year effort to pin HP’s well-documented ineptitude on Dr. Lynch. Thankfully, the truth has finally prevailed. We thank Dr. Lynch for his trust throughout this ordeal and hope that he can now return home to England to resume his life and continue innovating.”
The press release ends with a statement from Mr Lynch, saying, “I am looking forward to returning to the UK and getting back to what I love most: my family and innovating in my field.”
WHAT CAUSED THE YACHT TO SINK?
The sinking of the British-registered luxury vessel may have been caused by a tornadic waterspout caused by one of the storms that has swept through Italy in recent days.
Waterspouts are whirling columns of air and water mist that typically occur during thunderstorms and can develop very rapidly, reaching wind speeds high as 480kmh.
Matthew Schanck, chair of the Maritime Search and Rescue Council, called the reports of a tornado or waterspout “rare” and “quite alarming”.
“The vessel was at anchor in a recognised anchorage,” Mr Schanck told Sky News.
“Depending on wind direction and the state of the sea, this informs the captain whether it is a safe area to anchor or not.
“There was nothing that was too concerning, for my eye. All in all, the captain used the information they had to make a safe call.”
WHO SURVIVED THE TRAGEDY?
Mr Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, was among the fifteen people who were rescued from the yacht by Karsten Borner’s sailing ship, the Sir Robert BP.
South African crew members Leah Randall and Katja Chicken were also rescued as were Charlotte Golunski who survived alongside her one-year-old daughter and partner.
New Zealand-born lawyer Ayla Ronald, 36, who works for law firm Clifford Chance, survived the tragedy along with her partner Matthew Fletcher.
Her father Lin Ronald told Stuff that his daughter had texted him that “there are deaths, and she and her partner are alive”.
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