Rescue teams searching for six passengers who went missing after a superyacht capsized off the coast of Sicily were on Tuesday attempting to smash through a breach in the boat’s hull to reach the cabin.
British tech tycoon Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah are among those missing after the luxury superyacht, named Bayesian, sunk in a violent storm near Porticello at 5am on Monday.
Fifteen of the 22 passengers and crew onboard – including Mr Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares – were rescued after escaping onto a lifeboat.
The Italian coastguard is continuing its search for the remaining passengers but has admitted that a positive outcome is unlikely.
Italy’s fire brigade Vigili del Fuoco said it is developing a plan to enter the wreckage of Bayesian, which is resting on the seabed off the coast at a depth of 50 metres.
It described the operation as “complex”, with divers limited to 12-minute underwater shifts.
Rescue crews said they assume the six missing tourists will be found in the cabins, which they were unable to enter on Monday due to debris.
Vincenzo Zagarola, of the Italian Coastguard, said the working theory of officials was that the six missing passengers were inside the boat.
“Our search and rescue activity by sea and air has gone on for around 36 hours,” he said.
“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.”
Asked about the likelihood of them being alive, he replied: “Never say never, but reasonably the answer should be not.”
Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer and his wife, and Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo are also confirmed among the missing. Mr Morvillo’s wife is also unaccounted for, the head of Sicily's Civil Protection said.
Engineer Nick Sloane, who worked on the Costa Concordia salvage operation in 2012, said that rescue divers had 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 out, so the next 24 hours are critical,” he told Sky News.
“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.”
One body, belonging to the ship’s chef Recaldo Thomas, was recovered at the scene of the sinking on Monday.
Gareth Williams a friend of the chef, who was reportedly Antiguan-Canadian, told the BBC: "I can talk for everyone that knew him when I say he was a well-loved, kind human being with a calm spirit."
Mr Lynch co-founded software giant Autonomy in 1996 and was made an OBE for services to enterprise in 2006.
In June this year, he was cleared of conducting a massive fraud relating to an £8.64 billion sale to US company Hewlett Packard.
Survivors said the trip had been organised by Lynch for his work colleagues.
