A SALVAGE expert who worked on the mammoth rescue operation inside wrecked cruise ship Costa Concordia has said the Bayesian victims could still be rescued.
Nick Sloane told how the search is now in a “critical” 24-hour period and the missing six could be surviving in an air pocket inside the sunken superyacht.
But the engineer, who led efforts to save those trapped inside the infamous Concordia wreck in 2012, told Sky News time is of the essence.
He said: “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.
“You’ve got a maximum of two to three days to try to get someone one, 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.”
Divers scouring the wreckage have compared it to a “small Concordia”, encountering small spaces and obstacles blocking their only routes.
A mammoth effort was launched to save those trapped in the crevices of the cruise liner, resulting in the rescue of over 4,000 people.
The Italian coastguard said they believe those missing from the Bayesian, four British and two American, are trapped inside the sunken £14million superyacht.
They include Brit billionaire tycoon Mike Lynch, 59, and his daughter Hannah, 18, as well as Brit International chairman of Morgan Stanley, Jonathan Bloomer, 70, and his wife Judy.
Top New York lawyer Chris Morvillo, a solicitor at major firm Clifford Chance who worked for Mike Lynch, and his wife Neda, are also lost at sea.
It comes as…
Italian coastguard spokesman Vincenzo Zagarola said: “We think they are still inside the boat, that is our very hard idea.
“Of course, we do not exclude that they are not inside the boat, but we know the boat sank quickly.
“We suppose that the six people missing may not have had time to get out of the boat.”
He said the search and rescue mission, carried out by sea and air, has gone on for 36 hours with little luck.
Divers are struggling to get inside the wreck, which is lying almost completely intact on the seabed, due to floating debris and furniture blocking their way.
On Tuesday afternoon they carved a hole in the hull of the 184ft boat, while 50 metres underwater.
Emergency services said this should enable divers to swim into the wreckage and retrieve those trapped inside.
Speaking of the tricky operation, wreckage pro Sloane added: “It’s a very dangerous operation because there are so many materials floating around inside that can trap you.
“You’ve got to make sure that you have a proper risk assessment and experienced divers who do the penetration.
“There’s forecast to be a gale at the moment too, so the weather is also going to play a role.”
Lynch’s wife Angela Bacares, 57, was one of 15 people rescued on Monday after the boat capsized.
Some 11 survivors were dragged to safety on a small inflatable life raft pictured in Porticello harbour today.
A shell-shocked Angela told Italian outlet La Repubblica that she and her husband woke up at around 4am on Monday to a sudden shift onboard the superyacht.
The mum, who suffered horrific injuries to both feet, told the Italian outlet of the “slight tilt” she felt before tragedy struck.
She reportedly told Corriere that “everything was falling” around her and she was almost “carried away” before she managed to escape to safety.
Her husband Lynch, previously dubbed “the British Bill Gates”, was hosting a party on the boat.
The business tycoon – worth an estimated £852million – was surrounded by members of his legal firm and company Invoke Capital to celebrate a US jury clearing him of fraud earlier this summer.
He was extradited to the US in 2023 over the £8.5billion sale of his software firm Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard in 2011 and was accused of inflating the company’s value.
The dad-of-two had spent a year under house arrest in the States.
He was cleared of 16 counts of wire fraud, securities fraud and conspiracy, following a trial in San Francisco in June.
