THE £14million Bayesian superyacht rapidly sank over 160ft to the bottom of the sea after it was caught up in a tornado on Monday morning.
Terrified passengers made up of mostly Brits were left screaming in fear as they were forced to cram into a lifeboat as the vessel capsized when the mast collapsed.
Sicily was hit with a surging weather warning overnight.
Torrential rain and horror winds battered much of the Porticello port in Palermo with the pricey superyacht being severely affected.
A yacht industry source has revealed this intense weather likely caused the vessel to take on too much water after the weight of the mast took the hull beyond the “down-flooding angle”.
This led to sea water flooding the deck before the high winds toppled over the towering mast.
The source told The Times: “The wind toppled the mast, which fell over the side, causing the boat to heel over and take on water, capsize and sink very quickly.”
Locals reported feeling a mini-tornado on Sunday evening through to Monday which lasted for several minutes.
Luca Mercalli, president of the Italian Meteorological Society, said 200kmh winds could be felt.
He described the weather as: “A so-called funnel cloud forms, generating winds of up to 200kmh which can create a water spout at sea by sucking water into the air.
“The event can be restricted to a few hundred metres and be over in ten minutes.”
The heroic captain of a boat that helped rescue 15 of the terrified tourists from the doomed superyacht has described how he saw the Bayesian disappear beneath the waves.
Karsten Borner says his crew onboard the Sir Robert BP was battered by the strong gusts of wind and heavy rainfall which led to them anchoring up not far from Porticello port.
The Bayesian was said to be already anchored up nearby but once the worst of the storm hit it started to sink.
Borner told media earlier today: “We managed to keep the ship in position, and after the storm was over, we noticed that the ship behind us was gone.”
The wind toppled the mast, which fell over the side, causing the boat to heel over and take on water, capsize and sink very quickly
Yacht industry source
The captain says the Bayesian “went flat on the water and then down”.
“There was a light and we saw that the ship was aside and then we saw a triangle. So I think she went back down,” Borner added.
A local fisherman also says they saw debris from the doomed yacht “floating in the sea” after the storm.
He told Reuters that t-shirts and mats appeared on the water.
After noticing the Bayesian had vanished, Borner says his crew saw a flare in the water followed by rising smoke.
A packed life raft was drifting in the sea with 15 people inside -including a one-year-old baby.
Borner says they quickly informed the coastguard who rushed out to guide the raft back to safety.
The mum of the rescued one-year-old, Brit tourist Charlotte Golunski, 35, says she was woken up by floods of water after the yacht was badly damaged by the tornado.
Thunder and lightning reportedly left the yacht “rocking” the moments before it started to fill with water, the couple said.
Charlotte managed to grab hold of young Sophia as the pair were forced into the Mediterranean as they battled against the rough weather and choppy waters.
Dad James Emsilie was also onboard at the time of the horror ordeal and wasn’t able to find his family after being swept away by the sea.
The mother told la Repubblica about her terrifying experience, saying: “I held her afloat with all my strength, my arms stretched upwards to keep her from drowning.
“It was all dark. In the water I couldn’t keep my eyes open.”
Another seven tourists and crew were unable to make it on the lifeboat.
Four British tourists are feared dead including tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch who was onboard.
FORMER billionaire entrepreneur Mike Lynch is still believed to be missing hours after a £14m luxury yacht capsized in a tornado off the coast of Sicily.
The tech tycoon, dubbed “Britain’s Bill Gates”, was one of the 22 people sailing onboard the £166,000 a week vessel, the Telegraph reported this afternoon.
Lynch, 59, is a serial entrepreneur having founded and sold tech and software companies with one of his biggest being Autonomy Corporation.
He has also been involved in Invoke Capital and cybersecurity company Darktrace.
He was awarded an OBE for his services to enterprise in 2006.
Born in Ilford, Lynch had a firefighter father from County Cork and a nurse mother from County Tipperary.
Away from work, Mike is married to wife Angela Bacares and the pair have two children together.
Angela is among those who have been rescued on the superyacht.
In 2023, the Sunday Times rich list set the couple’s value at £852m.
But he was extradited to the US on fraud charges back in 2023 with a judge setting his bail at £79m.
Just weeks ago, Lynch was acquitted of criminal charges by a jury in San Francisco after a 12-year legal battle over the $11bn sale of his firm, Autonomy, to Hewlett-Packard in 2011.
The doomed yacht, named Bayesian, is also said to be owned by the Lynch family.
The lifeless body of one victim, a Canadian cook who was part of the crew, has already been pulled from the Mediterranean, reports Ansa.
Two other US tourists are among those still missing.
The yacht is believed to have been flooded by water after a tornado off the coast of Porticello, near Palermo, just before 5am local time on Monday morning.
Helicopters, divers, patrol boats and firefighters are all helping with the desperate search of the wreckage.
Most of those missing were passengers on the £166,000 a week charter.
The charterers said there were 12 guests and 10 crew sailing at the time.
The Termini Imerese Prosecutor’s Office is investigating the exact cause of the shipwreck along with the Porticello Coast Guard.
