THE BAYESIAN yacht was sunk by a freak “Black Swan” waterspout which would have appeared without warning, maritime experts believe.
One British superyacht expert has said the industry has “never faced anything like this” after the boat sank some 164ft to the bottom of the sea in mere minutes.
The yacht’s 264ft tall mast was hammered by a water tornado as storms battered the Porticello Harbour near Palermo in Sicily at around 5am on Monday.
It capsized, with investigators believing it took on a hefty amount of water causing it to sink in just a few minutes.
Dramatic footage showed the mast wavering in howling gales before it vanished from sight in just 60 seconds.
Speaking to Reuters, the unnamed superyacht pro dubbed the tragedy is a “horror story”.
Officials are trying to work out how the massive boat could have gone underwater in just a minute when another smaller boat only 100m away remained intact, La Repubblica reports.
Marine experts told The Times how the freak waterspout would have caused hefty damage to the £14million boat, causing it to plunge underwater.
Matthew Schanck, chairman of the Maritime Search and Rescue Council, said: “Looking at the extreme weather, if it was a waterspout, which it appears to be, it’s what I would class as like a black swan event.
“And if the waterspout ends up dumping a load of that water on board the vessel, that’s going to cause significant damage.”
Nautical design pro from Milan Polytechnic university Andrea Ratti said windows and portholes onboard could have been smashed in by the freak twister, causing the yacht to take on the huge amount of water that made it sink.
It comes as…
Extremely rare and unpredictable weather patterns that have severe impacts – like this waterspout – are known as “black swan events”.
And Dr Pete Inness, lecturer in meteorology at the University of Reading, supported witness testimonies about the waterspout.
He said: “There was a big thunderstorm just to the north of Sicily, a lot of lightning activity, lot of heavy rain, very strong signature of what we call ‘cold cloud tops’ on the satellite pictures.
“All of those things would add up to a thunderstorm that could easily spawn a waterspout.”
The weather expert explained how it likely appeared with “no warning”.
He said: “As with tornado warnings, you can say there’s a probability they could happen 24 hours in advance.
“But until one actually forms you can’t say where it will be or how strong it is, and even then they typically only last for a couple of minutes, so there is no real warning.”
And he told how it could destroy something in one place while leaving something else, only metres away, intact.
Dramatic footage shows what the waterspouts can look like in a video captured at a beach in Metapontino, Italy, shared by Corriere.
It comes as officials are set to send an underwater robot to help with the difficult search today.
Divers have been hampered by time crunches, narrow entrances and floating debris on the boat as they battle to get inside the cabins where they believe six people are trapped.
Today marks the third day of frantic efforts as fears grow for billionaire tycoon Mike Lynch and his teen daughter Hannah, among the four missing Brits.
International chairman of bank giant Morgan Stanley, Brit Jonathan Bloomer, 70, and his wife Judy, are also feared dead.
Two Americans, top New York lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda are believed to be trapped in the boat wreck too.
Fifteen people were rescued from the doomed boat as it sank, with the yacht chef later found dead.
Design engineering and mechanical lecturer Dr Jean-Baptiste Souppez, from Aston University, told Mail Online that divers “may be looking for a banging noise at regular intervals”.
He even compared the Bayesian wreck to the doomed Titan submarine which imploded last year, saying the same technique was used by divers working to find those who went missing then as well.
But Dr Souppez added: “Whether air pockets formed on the Bayesian is simply impossible to predict.”
Meanwhile specialist cave divers, possibly including those from the UK’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch who were sent to help, are working from the opening they made inside the vessel.
Some had to smash a hole in the 3cm-thick porthole window on Tuesday to get into the boat.
Patrol boats and helicopters are also at the scene assisting with the search.
The Italian coastguard has vowed not to give up until it finds the six people feared dead inside the sunken yacht.
