Global Affairs says Canadian reported dead after yacht capsized off Sicily

Global Affairs Canada said Monday it’s aware of reports that a Canadian has died after a luxury superyacht sank off Sicily during a violent storm, while Italian authorities said they continued to search for six people who remained unaccounted for.

In a statement Monday afternoon, Global Affairs said consular officials were in contact with local authorities, but said it could provide no further information due to privacy concerns.

“We extend our deepest sympathies to everyone affected by this tragic event,” the agency said.

British tech magnate Mike Lynch was among the people who remain unaccounted for after their chartered sailboat sank off Porticello, when a tornado over the water known as a waterspout struck the area overnight, said Salvo Cocina of Sicily’s civil protection agency.

His wife, Angela Bacares, and 14 other people survived.

One body had been recovered, and police divers were trying to reach the hull of the ship, which was resting at a depth of 50 meters off Porticello, near Palermo, where it had been anchored, rescue authorities said. They returned to the site after 10 p.m. to see if it would be possible to search through the night, when weather conditions were expected to worsen, said Luca Cari, a spokesman of the fire rescue service.

The ship had a crew of 10 people and 12 passengers, the Italian coast guard said. A sudden fierce storm had battered the area overnight, and struck the place precisely where the 56-meter British-flagged Bayesian had been moored.

“They were in the wrong place at the wrong time,” said Cocina, noting that another big ship nearby, the Sir Robert Baden Powell, wasn’t as badly damaged and helped rescue the 15 survivors — including Lynch’s wife.

The Bayesian was notable for its single 75-meter mast — one of the world’s tallest made of aluminum and which was lit up at night, just hours before it sank.

One of the survivors, identified as Charlotte Golunski, said she momentarily lost hold of her one-year-old daughter Sofia in the water, but then managed to hold her up over the waves until a lifeboat inflated and they were both pulled to safety, Italian news agency ANSA reported, quoting the mother. The father, James Emslie, also survived, said Cocina.

Karsten Borner, the captain of the Sir Robert Baden Powell, said he had noticed the Bayesian nearby during the storm but after it calmed he saw a red flare and realized the ship had simply disappeared, ANSA and the Giornale di Sicilia newspaper reported. Borner said he and a crew member boarded their tender and found a lifeboat with 15 people, some of them injured, who they then took aboard and alerted the coast guard.

Eight of those rescued were hospitalized while the others were taken to a hotel. One body believed to be the cook was found near the wreck, but six others were unaccounted for and believed inside the hull, said Cari, the fire rescue spokesperson. The rescue operations, which were visible from shore, involved helicopters and rescue boats from the coast guard, fire rescue and civil protection service.

Fisherman Fabio Cefalù said he had seen a flare from shore at around 4:30 a.m. and immediately set out to the site but by the time he got there, the Bayesian had already sunk, with only cushions, wood and other items from the superyacht floating in the water.

“But for the rest, we didn’t find anyone,” he said from the port hours later. He said that he immediately alerted the coast guard and stayed on site for three hours, but didn’t find any survivors. “I think they are inside, all the missing people.”

He said he had been up early to check the weather to see if he could go fishing, and surmised that a sudden waterspout had struck the yacht.

“It could be that the mast broke, or the anchor at the prow pulled it, I don’t know,” he said.

Cocina said the crew and passengers hailed from a variety of countries. In addition to Britain and the United States, passengers and crew were from Antigua, France, Germany, Ireland, Myanmar, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Spain, he said.

The UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch is deploying a team of four inspectors to Italy to conduct a preliminary assessment. The Foreign Commonwealth and Development office said it was “providing consular support to a number of British nationals and their families.”

Dutch foreign ministry spokesperson Casper Soetekouw said the lone Dutch citizen on board, a man, had been rescued and was not in life-threatening condition.

Lynch, once hailed as Britain’s king of technology, was cleared in June of fraud and conspiracy charges related to Hewlett Packard’s $11 billion takeover of his company, Autonomy Corp.

The acquittal vindicated Lynch, who had vehemently denied wrong doing and portrayed HP as a technological train wreck.

“I’m looking forward to returning the UK and getting back to what I love most: my family and innovating in my field,” Lynch said in a statement released after the verdict.

The yacht, built in 2008 by the Italian firm Perini Navi, can accommodate 12 passengers in four double cabins, a triple and the master suite, plus crew accommodations, according to Charter World and Yacht Charters.

–with files from The Associated Press

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 19, 2024.

The Associated Press