Sicily yacht sinking: Divers break into hull with crucial hours loom in search

David Tabizel, who co-founded software company Autonomy with Mike Lynch in 1996, has told Sky News: “I hope there’s a miracle about to occur.”

The Italian Coastguard has not ruled out the possibility that those missing, including technology tycoon Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, may still be alive, with experts speculating air pockets could have formed as the yacht sank.

Among those missing are also Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer; his wife, Judy Bloomer; Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo; and his wife, Neda Morvillo.

The frantic rescue operation continued overnight with divers trying to access the £14 million vessel, which is thought to be largely intact on the seabed.

Prosecutors have opened an investigation into the disaster with six still missing as they try to work out how the Bayesian sunk.

One expert at the scene in Sicily told Reuters that an early focus of the investigation, which is expected to last months, would be on whether the yacht’s crew had failed to close access hatches into the vessel before the tornado struck.

However, an industry expert said it should have taken hours for the Bayesian to fill up with enough water to sink it, making its swift demise incomprehensible.

“I don’t think the industry has ever faced anything like this. It’s a horror story,” he said, declining to be named.

Fire department diver Marco Tilotta told Il Messaggero daily the wreck was “apparently intact”, with “no gashes, no signs of impact”. However, only one half of the hull is visible to divers.

Prosecutors will also look at whether appropriate measures were taken in preparation for the storm, such as use of the yacht’s retractable keel, which adds extra stability and acts as a counterweight to the large mast.

A couple who are among the six missing after the Bayesian yacht sank have been described as “incredibly generous people” by the reverend of their local church.

Speaking of Jonathan and Judy Bloomer, Rev Tim Edwards, from Knockholt in Kent, told BBC South East: “At the moment there’s an awful lot that we don’t know”.

He added that the couple are “very much” part of the village community as well as being active with local charities.

Recaldo Thomas, who is understood to be the superyacht’s chef, has been pictured after he died in the sinking of the Bayesian.

The Palermo Port Authority told Canadian broadcaster CBC News the body of Mr Thomas, a Canadian-born man who had been living in Antigua, had been recovered from the wreckage.

The chef’s friend Gareth Williams told the BBC: “I can talk for everyone that knew him when I say he was a well-loved, kind human being with a calm spirit.”

Tributes have been paid to him by friends on social media, with one saying: “Rest in Power big man. I don’t know what else to say except I love you, and I always will.”

Another wrote: “Going to miss you so much Recaldo Thomas still finding this so hard to believe.”

The Italian coastguard confirmed to this information to Sky News.

Emergency teams trying to access the submerged Bayesian yacht will have to make “a big choice” as the rescue efforts intensify, a maritime diving and wreckage expert has said.

Bertrand Sciboz told BBC News: “I think 50 metres is a limit to dive with a certain category of professional divers, so you will need to dive with some kind of helmet and pipe and (be) connected to the surface for oxygen, and also for for speaking and hearing and telling what you see and and do.

“It’s always very difficult, and especially with a sailing vessel, because you’ve got rope everywhere, you’ve got a sail which is floating in the current, because we are in Mediterranean Sea and not in the English Channel.

“But the main thing, you know, it’s the fact that in those kind of conditions, it’s very hard to go inside the wreck, and they will have to have to make a big choice at one moment, of salvaging the whole wreck or rescuing the bodies.”

The Bayesian sank after being hit by a “violent storm”. The Italian coast guard said bad weather had been forecast, but added that it was more virulent than expected. Some locals spoke of a waterspout, or sea whirlwind, of exceptional force. The Bayesian was at anchor, its sails down, when the tempest hit, with another yacht moored nearby.

The nearby yacht, the 42-metre Sir Robert Baden Powell, remained anchored and weathered the storm after its captain turned on the engine to keep control of the vessel and avoid a collision with the Bayesian. The captain, Karsten Borner, said he did not know if the crew of the Bayesian had managed to switch on its engines. “I only know that they went flat with the mast on the water and that they sank in two minutes,” he said.

Andrea Ratti, a nautical design professor at Milan Polytechnic university, said a boat the size of the Bayesian could only sink so rapidly by taking in a huge amount of water, suggesting that one or more portholes, windows or other openings may have been broken or smashed open by the waterspout.

There has also been media speculation that a major hatch might have been inadvertently left open. However, fire department diver Marco Tilotta told Il Messaggero daily the wreck was “apparently intact” – although only one half of the hull is visible to divers.

And an industry expert in Britain said it should have taken hours for the Bayesian to fill up with enough water to sink it, making its swift demise incomprehensible.

The Bayesian was built in 2008 by Perini Navi, which said it featured the world’s tallest aluminium mast, measuring 72 metres. However, Ratti and a second expert, structural engineer Filippo Mattioni, said an unusually tall mast is not by itself an element of vulnerability in a storm. Both were also sceptical about the theory a broken mast caused damage smashing against the hull as the boat would not have capsized if this was the case.

The Bayesian had a retractable keel – the fin-like structure under the hull that helps stabilise boats and acts as a counterweight to the mast. Both Ratti and Mattioni wondered if the yacht had been anchored with the keel up, reducing its depth under water, making it less stable. Ratti said the boat might have started oscillating wildly, under strong winds, putting exceptional strain on the mast. But even if this had led to its breaking, “this by itself is not enough to justify the sinking,” he said.

Prosecutors in the nearby town of Termini Imerese have opened an investigation into the disaster. Their case is likely to take months to complete.

A neighbour of Mike Lynch said she was “honestly horrified” when she learned he was missing after his yacht sank in a tornado.

Ruth Leigh, of Pettistree in Suffolk, said she knew the family had the Bayesian, but when she heard the news, she said: “I just couldn’t believe it, I thought this can’t be right.”

The 57-year-old writer and author added: “It’s dreadful, it’s the worst news.”

She said they had been neighbours for around 15 years and that “right from the start [Mr Lynch] was a fantastic neighbour”.

“Even though he was incredibly wealthy and a very important person, he never ever gave that impression,” said Ms Leigh.

“Whenever he met you, he always remembers your name, he would chat to you, incredibly friendly and down to earth, which we thought was a great quality. He was a really good neighbour.”