STORY: :: The captain of a lifeboat remembers the moment when a luxury yacht capsized off Sicily
:: Karsten Borner, captain who rescued survivors from a sinking sailboat
“This morning we had this strong gale force wind and we had to start the engine to keep the ship in an angled position. We were careful not to touch the ship behind us and we managed to keep the ship in position. When the storm passed we noticed that the ship behind us had disappeared.”
:: Palermo, Italy
BORNER: “And then we saw a red flare. My first officer and I went to the position and found this drifting life raft.”
JOURNALIST: “But is there anything in there?”
BORNER: “There were fifteen people inside.”
:: 19 August 2024
BORNER: “Yes. And there was also a small baby and the wife of the (ship) owner in the life raft. The owner and her child are probably still inside. So of course it’s a major catastrophe here.”
Search and rescue operations are underway after one man died and six people were missing after a 56-metre British-registered sailboat with 22 people on board sank shortly before sunrise, the coast guard said in a statement.
Local media reported that all those rescued on the life raft were in stable condition.
The Coast Guard said the boat was found at a depth of about 49 meters and divers were examining the wreckage.
The public prosecutor’s office in the nearby town of Termini Imerese has launched an investigation to find out what went wrong.
The Coast Guard named the yacht Bayesian, which was built in 2008 by Italian shipbuilder Perini.
A British Foreign Office spokesman said British officials were in contact with local authorities about the incident and were ready to provide consular assistance to the Britons affected.
