Remarkable way billionaire tech tycoon, five others could be found alive in Sicily yacht search

The clock is ticking on the search for six people two days after a billionaire’s yacht sank – but experts say they could be alive.

Divers are running out of time to find a missing British tech tycoon and five others alive after a superyacht sank off the coast of Sicily during a storm on Monday.

Billionaire Mike Lynch, 59, his daughter, Hannah, 18, and Morgan Stanley International chairman Jonathan Bloomer, 70, are among the six people still missing. One body was found early on during the search – believed to be chef Recaldo Thomas – and 15 people were rescued.

They had been celebrating Mr Lynch’s acquittal in a fraud trial in June over the sale of his tech firm Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard for $US11 billion ($16 billion) back in 2011.

Hopes are dwindling to find the missing six people alive, but experts say it is possible they could be trapped in air pockets that are yet to be reached by the divers.

If that is the case, an engineer who led the salvage operation when Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia capsized in 2012, said there was a maximum of three days to get them out.

Specialist divers search for six people after a superyacht capsized off the Italian island of Sicily. They have just 10 minutes to search the wreck at a time. Picture: Vigili del Fuoco / AFP

“They’ve got a very small window of time to try to find people stuck inside with hopefully an air pocket, and they could be rescued,” Mr Sloane told Sky News.

“You’ve got a maximum of two to three days to try to get someone out, so the next 24 hours are critical.

“If the yacht is on its side, it might have more air pockets than if it’s upright. She’s got quite a large keel, and that will deflect and put her on her side, I’m sure.”

The 56-metre yacht, named Bayesian, capsized at about 4am local time on Monday (12pm AEST). Two days will have past at about noon on Wednesday Australian time, and three days will be at up the same time on Thursday.

The guests had been celebrating British tech tycoon Mike Lynch’s recent acquittal in a fraud trial. He and his daughter are among the missing. Picture: Ben Gurr / POOL / AFP

Dr Jean-Baptiste Souppez, fellow of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects, agreed on Tuesday the next 24 hours were crucial to find survivors trapped inside.

He said it was “impossible to predict accurately” but there was hope for air pockets inside the vessel because it sank quickly within just a few minutes and it remains in tact and on its side.

“There are records of survivors found in such air pockets: Harrison Okene’s rescue after three days trapped in an air pocket is well-documented thanks to the diver’s video of the rescue,” he said in comments released by the UK’s Science Media Centre.

“Yacht races such as the Vendée Globe have seen competitor Jean Le Cam trapped inside his overturned yacht for 16 hours before another competitor could come to the rescue.”

Dr Souppez said just like in the Titan submersible disaster last year, rescuers may be “looking for is a banging noise at regular intervals” to find survivors.

The OceanGate submersible went missing in June last year while attempting to view the Titanic wreck, prompting a huge multinational search that gained intense worldwide interest.

It was missing for days before debris was found and it was determined the sub had imploded, killing all five people on board – including British billionaire explorer Hamish Harding, OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, Titanic expert Paul Henri ‘PH’ Nargeolet, British Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, and his son Suleman Dawood.

It is hoped some of the missing are still alive trapped in air pockets and will be found in time by rescuers. Picture: Alberto Pizzoli / AFP

Why is the search is so difficult?

Specialist cave divers and their equipment were flown to Sicily from the mainland to access the confined spaces of the sunken vessel.

They are restricted to 12 minutes for each dive because of the water pressure, according to fire service spokesman Luca Cari.

It takes one minute to get down and another minute to get back, meaning they have just 10 minutes at a time to search the yacht, which is lying largely intact on the seabed some 50 metres down.

While Italy’s coastguard said the search continued without a break, Captain Vincenzo Zagarola said it was “difficult to imagine” it would end well.

The divers are trying to access the cabins where it is feared some people became trapped.

It is understood furniture has blocked their way making this even more difficult.

“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,” said Mr Cari said.

Specialist cave divers and their equipment were flown to Sicily from the mainland. Picture: Vigili del Fuoco / AFP

Reportedly owned by Mr Lynch’s family, Bayesian was built by Italian shipbuilding firm Perini Navi in 2008.

Its 75-metre mast was the world’s tallest aluminium sailing mast, according to the Charter World website.

A photograph posted on social media by the Baia Santa Nicolicchia bar in Porticello showed the yacht lit up, its towering mast shining in the darkness, just a few hours before the storm hit.

Matthew Schanck, from the Maritime Search and Rescue Council, told news agency AFP it was an “extraordinary event”.

“This is a large, luxurious superyacht that has founded quite quickly in a touristy, well-known sailing area off Sicily. It’s pretty unprecedented,” he said.

A fellow sailor photographed the Bayesian only hours before it capsized. Picture: X

One body had been found, but six people remain missing. There were 15 people who were rescued. Picture: Igor Petyx / ANSA / AFP

What caused the yacht to sink?

Bayesian is said to have disappeared into the sea within minutes of being hit by a tornado-like storm off the Sicilian town of Porticello.

The British-flagged vessel was anchored some 700 metres from port when the waterspout struck, according to witnesses.

Karsten Borner, skipper of a yacht anchored nearby, described a “very strong hurricane gust” that hit. He was battling to keep his vessel steady when suddenly “we noticed that the ship behind us was gone”.

“First came the wind, then the water – it was definitely a tornado,” said local fisherman Giovanni Lococco, describing the waterspout.

The ship’s captain James Calfield, 51, spoke from hospital and said had no idea the tornado was coming towards the ship.

“We didn’t see it coming,” he told Italian newspaper La Repubblica

The president of the Italian Meteorological Society, Luca Mercalli, said the yacht’s crew should have woken the guests and given them life jackets given the weather warnings overnight, The Telegraph reported.

An expert at the scene, who was not named, told news agency Reuters officials were investigating whether the yacht’s crew had closed the hatches before the storm struck, and would look at whether other appropriate measures had been taken.

Sam Jefferson, editor of magazine Sailing Today, also said that open hatches could have caused the yacht to sink.

“I imagine all the doors were open because it was hot, so there were enough hatches and doors open that it filled with water very quickly and sank like that,” he said.

“The reason it got pinned over so hard was because the mast is huge.”

An aerial view of the rescue area off Porticello near Palermo. Picture: Handout / Guardia Costiera / AFP

What is a waterspout?

“A waterspout is a narrow column of rotating air below a thunderstorm that occurs over water” and is “part of the same weather ‘family’ as tornadoes”, explained Dr Peter Inness, a meteorologist at the University of Reading in Britain, in comments released by the UK’s Science Media Centre.

Like tornadoes, they suck up air in a rotating motion, usually causing less damage than tornadoes over land, however.

While many waterspouts are “fairly inconsequential”, lasting just a few seconds, some can pack winds of more than 100 kilometres per hour, said Dr Inness.

– with AFP