An oceanographer has told Sky News the weather window for searching this evening is closing as more storms are forecast.
Despite no more survivors being found since this morning, Dr Simon Boxall, from Southampton University, said it’s important to continue the search for now.
“There are stories of people getting caught in air bubbles, so it’s worth looking in the vessel, but time will tell,” he said.
Dr Boxall said current warm sea temperatures, 4C above the 20-year average, likely played a role as they can fuel storms and increase the chance of waterspouts.
He said the crew would have known about low pressure and bad weather in the area, but were likely “just caught unawares” by a sudden flare-up in wind speed.
If the storm snapped or damaged the 75-metre mast it “could well have destabilised the vessel”, said Dr Boxall.
He added that, contrary to most people’s idyllic image of the Mediterranean, he’d seen some “horrendous” storms in the region in August.
