Shipwreck: hull intact, mast not damaged. Among the missing are tycoon Mike Lynch, his 18-year-old daughter and the chairman of Morgan Stanley

The cabins are located on the lower deck of the yacht. There are six plus the owner's suite which is aft. The search for the six missing is very difficult due to the furniture and material that has invaded the rooms and prevents access to the cabins.

In order to rule out cracks or structural failure of the hull, divers will have to go inside to inspect the side resting on the sandy seabed, but the hypothesis is already taking shape that, during the storm, an enormous amount of water entered from the stern or the bow in a very short time, causing the hull to surge and, as several survivors recount, "in a few seconds it reared up and sank". The boat sank within a minute, this was confirmed by video from the surveillance system of a villa framing the gulf.

The sinking of a vessel with the tonnage of the megayacht Bayesian off the coast of Sicily in bad weather is to be considered 'unprecedented'. Sea rescue expert Matthew Schanck, chairman of the Maritime Search and Rescue Council, told the UK media. "It is sort of unprecedented for a vessel of that size, certified and used commercially, to suffer such a significant event in weather conditions that were pretty severe by all accounts, but which should have been within the limits of the vessel itself," Schanck said.

"The sailing ship is lying on its side on the bottom, it appears intact and without gashes". Thus the inspector of the Palermo Fire Brigade's Diving Unit Marco Tilotta speaking of the search for the missing. "Our primary objective is to be able to penetrate the boat, but it will not be easy given the depth at 50 metres."

Fire brigade dive teams are at work searching for the six missing after yesterday's sinking of the boat off Porticello in Palermo. The teams are made up of two specialised cave operators who have a 12-minute time spent at depth before ascending and continuously changing with a subsequent team.

Operations are being planned to open up easier access to the wreck for penetration into the interior, while access to the cabins, where it is possible to assume, given the time of the shipwreck, the presence of the missing people, is being made difficult.

It is impossible to verify their presence inside through the portholes. In parallel, surface searches in the area of the shipwreck also continue with a helicopter and fire brigade boat.

Staring into the darkness at the sea area where the sailing ship Bayesian sank, taking seven people with it, including her husband Mike Lynch and 18-year-old daughter Hannah still missing, fifteen managed to save themselves while the cook's body was recovered by divers. It is the touching image of Angela Bacares, the woman, reclining in a wheelchair, last night stood motionless for some time on the terrace of the Domina-Zagarella resort, the structure that is accommodating the survivors of the shipwreck, watching that stretch of sea. In a private area, the survivors then told the British Ambassador Hon Lord Llewellyn and Consul Richard Brown, who joined them at the hotel, about the dramatic moments they experienced in the stormy sea as the yacht sank. They were given a long applause by the tourists staying at the hotel, in Santa Flavia (Palermo), when the staff informed them that any entertainment would be cancelled as a sign of solidarity. Having lost everything they had brought on board, the Domina staff procured clothes and clothing for the survivors, who are being cared for in the utmost secrecy. The boat, which sank just in front of the resort, is registered in the name of the Revtom company, registered on the Isle of Man, whose administrator is said to be the wife of the tycoon still missing, Angela Bacares.

"It is a tragedy, I came from the embassy with my colleagues to support and try to help the British citizens involved in this incident. I would like to express my solidarity with them. This morning I met the Prefect, the Coast Guard and the Fire Brigade, yesterday I also met the Vice Prefect, to offer my support in carrying out the investigation and to thank them for what they are doing". Thus the UK ambassador to Italy, Edward Llewellyn, speaking to journalists at the exit of the Hotel Zagarella in Santa Flavia, after meeting the survivors of the shipwreck of the Bayesian yacht, which occurred yesterday in Porticello. "I spoke with the survivors," the ambassador continued, "the investigations are being conducted by the Italian authorities, we have sent our officers from the United Kingdom. Sending inspectors for verifications is something we normally do when a British ship is involved in an accident: they do their job on a par with their Italian colleagues. There are several people in shock, the situation is particularly touching,' concludes the ambassador.

To understand the reasons for the Bayesian tragedy, 'it will be crucial to check the position of the retractable keel, to check whether it was raised or not' because the difference in stability is substantial. Without forgetting that "the proportion between the height of the mast, over 72 metres from the waterline, and the length of the boat, 56 metres, was a little too high for a cruising boat, albeit a heavy one (about 550 tonnes) but with a low relative transverse righting power, and consequently it was a boat with a very high sail plan, extreme in height, with criticalities in certain extreme situations such as this". This was emphasised to Adnkronos by Paolo Cori, one of the world's leading experts on sailing and racing yachts and designer of superyachts "with a great focus on safety". "The Bayesian," he recalls, "had a movable centreboard, which changes the draught from about 4 to over 9 and a half metres." In this second position "you have more transverse stability, which is necessary to hold up a sail of almost 3 thousand square metres" but also useful in situations such as those recorded at dawn yesterday off Porticello. "With a 9-metre keel, perhaps the Bayesan would have keeled over but without capsizing," stresses the designer, adding that it will be crucial to check "perhaps if there were also open portholes on the hull or saloon windows that broke". "In any case, the boat probably capsized at 90 degrees and quickly sank, taking on water even from the accesses to the lower deck, and those in the cabins unfortunately did little to save themselves. I think it's difficult for a skipper to foresee something like this," he notes, also emphasising that "unfortunately regulations sometimes approve boats with the keel lowered" and therefore in a more stable situation.

The parents of little Sophie, the one-year-old girl who survived the shipwreck of the British sailing ship in Porticello (Palermo) have just left the Children's Hospital in Palermo. Accompanying them out of the hospital was a young official from the British Embassy in Italy. Charlotte Golunski, 35, and James Emslie, 36, were taken out covered by a jacket to avoid being filmed by cameras and journalists. The van that picked them up from the hospital entered through a side entrance. The couple is on its way to the Domina Zagarella hotel in Santa Flavia where the other survivors of the shipwreck are staying.

A 59-year-old member of the Royal Society, Lynch is co-founder of Autonomy Corporation and founder of Invoke Capital. Lynch, known as the "British Bill Gates", is also a co-founder, together with Invoke Capital, of the computer security company Darktrace.

A spokesperson for the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said: 'We are in contact with the local authorities following the incident in Sicily and are ready to provide consular support to affected British citizens.

L’imprenditore del settore tech britannico Mike Lynch

The boat sank between 4 and 5 a.m. on Monday 19 August, during a violent storm. Fifteen people were rescued. Six people are currently missing, all passengers who were spending their holiday in Sicily.

Eight of the 15 people rescued were taken to hospital. Four Coast Guard vessels, a Coast Guard helicopter and a fire brigade helicopter, fire brigade divers and the Messina Coast Guard diving team are involved in the search.

The vessel, which flies the British flag, is at a depth of 49 metres.

"For two seconds I lost the child in the sea, then I immediately held her again in the fury of the waves. I held her tightly, tightly to me, while the sea was stormy. Many were screaming. Luckily the lifeboat inflated and 11 of us managed to get on it," Charlotte, the 35-year-old mother who was left at the mercy of the waves with her one-year-old daughter Sofia, told Ansa. She was on board the Bayesan, the boat that sank off Porticello, together with her husband and colleagues from a company in London and some relatives. She is now in the Children's Hospital in her daughter's room.

The Bayesan, the UK-flagged vessel that sank off Porticello in Palermo, Italy, was an elegant 56-metre sailboat with a gross tonnage of 473 tonnes, built by the Perini navi Viareggio shipyard in February 2008, refurbished in 2020, and designed for luxury travel.

The deck area was 436 square metres and the six cabins occupied an area of 143 square metres. On board, the builder says, could accommodate the owner and 11 guests as well as 10 crew members.

Bayesan is built with an aluminium hull and superstructure, with teak decks. Powered by two 8-cylinder 965 hp Mtu diesel engines it sailed at 12 knots and reached a top speed of 15 knots. The boat had the second highest mast in the world and the largest aluminium mast of 75 metres.