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11 things to do in and around Victoria this weekend—August 24th and 25th
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BC Coroners confirms one fatality after three people rescued from sinking boat near Victoria
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The BC Coroners Service has confirmed there was a fourth person on a vessel that sank off of Victoria last Friday and sadly they have passed.
A dramatic rescue operation took place off the coast of Victoria over the weekend, as three individuals and their canine companion were saved from a sinking vessel.
While the story initially came out as good news, it was later learned a fourth person was on the vessel. Unfortunately, that person, a man, died as a result of the incident.
“I can confirm that the BC Coroners Service was notified and is investigating one death resulting from this incident,” Ryan Panton, spokesperson for the BC Coroners Service, said in an email statement to Victoria Buzz.
Panton said no other details could be released due to the early stages of the investigation.
The distress call came in at around 7 p.m., on Friday, June 30th, with the Canadian Coast Guard receiving the urgent message from the vessel.
The 40-foot boat had encountered a perilous situation, taking on water and eventually sinking. Rescue crews located two teenage girls, an adult woman, and a dog in a dinghy.
Fortunately, the US Coast Guard had a helicopter already airborne in the vicinity, allowing for a rapid deployment to the scene.
The aircrew from Port Angeles located a partially submerged dinghy with three individuals and a dog desperately clinging to it. The 13-year-old, 15-year-old, and adult were quickly rescued from the dinghy.
Meanwhile, the Canadian Coast Guard vessel recued the family dog.
While the trio were not dressed for the conditions, they were wearing life jackets, which played a crucial role in their survival.
Following the rescue, all three individuals were showing severe symptoms of hypothermia and were quickly transported to Victoria General Hospital.
The cause of the man’s death is currently unknown, as well, it’s unclear what caused the boat to sink.
#BREAKING (1/2) Last night around 7 pm, a #USCG aircrew from Port Angeles rescued 2 teenage females and 1 adult woman from a dinghy in the Salish Sea about 2 miles south of Victoria, B.C., The 40-foot vessel they were aboard took on water and quickly sank… pic.twitter.com/DWxWTDg5gj — USCGPacificNorthwest (@USCGPacificNW) July 1, 2023
According to the coast guard, the group, from the US, had departed from Seattle but it was unclear where they were heading and what caused the vessel to sink—the vessel was registered in Kenmore, Washington.
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Survey shows most British Columbians see their political views as being ‘centre’
Hawaii martin mars water bomber now at bc aviation museum for visitors’ enjoyment.
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Man dead after yacht sinking near Discovery Island
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One of four people plucked from the ocean after a 40-foot yacht sank south of Discovery Island last Friday is dead, says the B.C. Coroners Service.
Spokesperson Ryan Panton said the coroners service is investigating the incident, which occurred about three nautical miles south of Discovery Island, east of Oak Bay, but could not reveal any additional details.
Three individuals and a dog in a 10-foot dinghy were located by a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter from Port Angeles, two hours after the initial mayday call was received by the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre at around 6 p.m. from the pleasure craft.
A fourth person was spotted in the water by a CH-149 Cormorant at around 9 p.m., about one nautical mile from the dinghy in the middle of the yacht’s debris field.
The man, who was “found to be unresponsive upon arrival,” was recovered by a Royal Canadian Air Force helicopter crew, said U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Michael Clark, adding that all four were U.S. citizens.
Clark said the MH-65 Dolphin helicopter was already airborne for scheduled operations and was diverted for the response.
Multiple sea and air units responded to the mayday call, including two aircraft based out of 19 Wing Comox — a CC-138 Hercules and a CH-149 Cormorant. Marine vessels deployed included the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Cape Calvert and 33 Oak Bay, a coast guard auxiliary vessel.
The U.S. Coast Guard said the dinghy contained two teenage girls and an adult woman who were all showing signs of hypothermia and were airlifted to Victoria General Hospital.
The dog was picked up by a Canadian Coast Guard vessel shortly after.
The yacht, named A Little Serenity, was registered in Kenmore, Washington, a suburb northeast of Seattle.
The U.S. Coast Guard said the sea at the time of the incident was swelling with five-foot waves and windspeeds were at 23 mph.
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Man dead, woman and teens rescued after yacht sinks off Vancouver Island
One man is dead after a 12-metre yacht sank in the Strait of Juan de Fuca south of Victoria on Friday.
The British Columbia Coroners Service confirmed Wednesday it is investigating one death that resulted from the incident.
The United States Coast Guard rescued one woman and two teenage girls from a dinghy that was associated with the sinking vessel around 7 p.m.
A U.S. Coast Guard rescue helicopter from Port Angeles, Wash., was dispatched to the scene, approximately three kilometres south of Victoria.
The air crew found and hoisted the woman and teenagers into the aircraft and took them to Victoria General Hospital after they showed signs of hypothermia.
U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Michael Clark says the sunken vessel was found nearby and identified as a 12-metre yacht named A Little Serenity.
The vessel is registered in Kenmore, Wash., northeast of Seattle, and all four people aboard were U.S. citizens, Clark said.
It is not known what caused the yacht to take on water and sink, nor what caused the death of the man on board.
The vessel had no prior contacts with the U.S. Coast Guard and was most recently certified by the agency on April 19, according to U.S. Coast Guard records.
"I can confirm that the B.C. Coroners Service was notified and is investigating one death resulting from this incident," Ryan Panton, spokesperson for the B.C. Coroners Service, said in a statement to CTV News.
"As we're very early in the process of trying to determine all of the facts, I have no additional information available at this time," the statement concluded.
The U.S. Coast Guard says it was first alerted to the vessel in distress by the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Victoria. The agency said the Canadian Coast Guard found the deceased male among the wreckage of the sunken boat and took him away on a Canadian rescue boat.
The Canadian Coast Guard declined to provide any details about the incident, instead referring questions to B.C. Emergency Health Services, which in turn referred questions to the B.C. Coroners Service.
The U.S. Coast Guard says the vessel went down in one-and-a-half-metre seas with winds reaching 37 km/h.
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One dead after sinking of American yacht off Victoria coast last week - BC
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- Two teenage females and one adult woman were rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard from a dinghy associated with the sinking yacht.
- The cause of the yacht sinking and the factors relating to it are still unknown. The rescued individuals were brought to the Victoria General Hospital and showed signs of hypothermia.
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Man dead, woman and teens rescued after yacht sinks off Vancouver Island
One man is dead after a 12-metre yacht sank south of Victoria on Friday. Three others were rescued from a dinghy found near the wreckage.
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The U.S. Coast Guard initially said three American citizens and a dog were rescued from the sinking vessel about three kilometres south of the capital around 7 p.m. last Friday.
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A Port Angeles, Wash., crew from the U.S. Coast Guard Pacific Northwest responded to the incident
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One dead after yacht sinks off the coast of Vancouver Island - Sicamous Eagle Valley News
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One dead after yacht sinks off the coast of Vancouver Island - Today In BC
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One person dies after Friday evening yacht rescue: BC Coroner
After four people and a dog were rescued after a yacht started to take on water on June 30, the BC Coroner has now confirmed one of the people died. Three people were rescued from a dinghy two hours after the initial mayday call was received, and a fourth was found in the water about an hour later. The U.S. Coast Guard shared video of them rescuing the three people from the dinghy. (2/2) The women were showing signs of hypothermia and brought t…
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Fishing boat sinks at U.S. border near Victoria, hundreds of litres of diesel aboard
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By The Canadian Press
Posted May 6, 2024 1:06 pm.
Last Updated May 6, 2024 5:28 pm.
The United States Coast Guard says it’s working to mitigate a pollution threat after a fishing boat sank just over the Canada-U. S. border not far from Victoria.
The coast guard says in a social media statement that a man and his dog were rescued off Henry Island in the San Juan Islands after the 14-metre commercial fishing boat the Chief Joseph went down on Friday.
It says the man and the dog made it to a life raft before the boat sank and both were rescued from Henry Island.
The coast guard says a helicopter flight over the area showed a 90-metre fuel sheen on the water along with debris from the sunken vessel.
It says the fishing boat was reported to be carrying about 1,500 to 1,900 litres of diesel fuel.
The coast guard says Global Dive and Salvage, an oil spill response organization, has been contracted to evaluate the condition of the ship and mitigate the threat of pollution.
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Looking for answers in whale-boat sinking that killed 5 British citizens
One survivor told rescuers that a sudden wave hit the boat on what was otherwise a calm, clear and sunny day. Five British nationals are dead after the vessel went down off the tourist community of Tofino, on Vancouver Island.
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TOFINO, British Columbia (AP) — Investigators sought to determine what caused a whale watching boat with 27 people on board to sink off Vancouver Island in seemingly calm weather, killing five people and leaving one person missing. A fisherman who helped in the rescue effort offered a clue Monday: a survivor told him that a sudden wave capsized the boat.
British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond confirmed in a statement Monday that the five killed were U.K. nationals. He said consular officials in British Columbia were supporting family members of those who died.
“My thoughts are with the family and friends of all those affected by this terrible accident,” Hammond said.
Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on Tuesday said an Australian man was missing. DFAT said it was providing consular assistance to the man’s family.
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Australian Associated Press reported that the 27 year-old Sydney man’s family said he was on the boat with his girlfriend and her family when it sank. His girlfriend’s father was among the five British citizens confirmed dead, AAP said.
The other 21 people on board the Leviathan II were rescued Sunday, some by members of the local aboriginal community who rushed to help.
Officials have not commented on what caused the boat to capsize. A senior employee of Jamie’s Whaling Station, the company operating the boat, said the vessel sank so quickly the crew didn’t have time to issue a mayday call. The boat capsized off Tofino, a popular destination for whale watchers.
The company’s director of operations, Corene Inouye, said the crew used flares from the water which attracted the attention of local aboriginal fishermen.
Fisherman Clarence Smith said he was reeling his lines for halibut when his friend saw a flare shoot in the sky. In their small boat, they raced to the scene, and saw people in life rafts, in the water, and on rocks. They first helped a man who was clinging to the side of the boat, taking eight minutes to get him on board. He was unresponsive, and tangled in a line.
Then they got two women who were clinging to each other, and finally got 10 people on a life raft onto their boat. Among those who they rescued were a pregnant woman and a woman with a broken leg.
“The lady was saying that a wave just capsized them. That’s why there weren’t any communications on the radio, no mayday,” Smith said.
Government investigators arrived Monday afternoon in Tofino, a remote community of about 2,000 people at the very tip of a peninsula some 200 miles (320 kilometers) northwest of Victoria, the capital of British Columbia.
Marc Andre Poisson, Director of Marine Investigations for Canada’s Transportation Safety Board, said it’s too early to say what caused the boat to capsize it or what the contributing factors might be. He said the investigation could take months.
Poisson said they will review the weather, wreckage and maintenance history. He said they hadn’t yet spoken to the crew and passengers. He said the vessel has been towed to a nearby island but remains mostly submerged. He said the investigation could take months.
Jamie Bray, the owner of Jamie’s Whaling Station, said he is cooperating with investigators to determine what happened but said he didn’t know the cause.
Bray said the boat sank in an area it goes to every day and said they are all traumatized and in disbelief. He said he’s had minimal contact with the crew.
“This vessel has operated for 20 years with an absolutely perfect safety record. This is something just totally out of the blue,” Bray said. “We just don’t understand and we won’t know the answers until the Transportation Safety Board finishes their investigations.”
He said the passengers are not required to wear life jackets on larger ships like this.
It wasn’t the first fatal accident on the whale watching company’s record. In 1998 one of its vessels capsized during an excursion , sending all four people on board into the water. The operator and a passenger died. Bray said that vessel was struck by a rogue wave but said this incident involved a much larger boat.
The capsized boat, the 20-meter (65-foot) Leviathan II, was partially submerged 8 nautical miles (12 nautical kilometers) west of Tofino.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police sent an underwater recovery team to search for the missing person, with assistance from the Coast Guard and local search and rescue personnel.
Barbara McLintock, a coroner’s spokeswoman, said four men and one woman died and their ages ranged from 18 to 76. She said two of them were residents of Canada. Their names were not released.
Boats from the nearby Ahoushat First Nation arrived first on the scene, Robert Burridge said. Burridge estimates that every vessel that could be used in the village was in the water searching for missing people.
Canadian Prime Minister-designate Justin Trudeau thanked all those who participated in the rescue effort and offered his condolences to the victims and their families.
“I know firsthand of this coastal area’s natural beauty and the many people who visit here from all around the world,” said Trudeau, who won Canada’s national election last week. “My thoughts and prayers are with the passengers, the crew, and their families at this most difficult time.”
Sheila Simpson said she was strolling on the dock with her husband when rescue boats roared up carrying survivors from the distressed vessel as well as a man’s body covered by a blanket.
Simpson, who was in Tofino visiting a friend at the local hospital, said she tried to comfort some of the survivors as they stood on the dock awaiting transport to hospital or to their hotels.
“They were in absolute shock,” said Simpson. “You could see it in their eyes.”
Many of the survivors were taken to Tofino General Hospital and some were discharged Sunday night, said Valerie Wilson, a spokeswoman for the Vancouver Island Health Authority.
Tofino’s mayor commended residents for their quick aid in the rescue effort.
“Everybody’s heart is just breaking for what’s going on here and wanting to be as helpful as possible,” Josie Osborne said in a telephone interview late Sunday.
Joe Martin, a member of the Tal-o-qui-aht tribe, was near the dock when rescue boats went out.
The ship was on the far side of Vargas Island in Clayoquot Sound, an area that Martin said can get really rough, but was not on Sunday.
“It wasn’t even blowing hard,” he said. “This is the largest boat in Tofino and I was really surprised that it went down.”
Hainsworth contributed from Vancouver. Associated Press writers Rob Gillies in Toronto, Rod McGuirk in Canberra, Australia, and Greg Katz in London contributed to this report.
Why are orcas attacking boats and sometimes sinking them?
![yacht sinking victoria Killer whales are interacting with boats and may be teaching others to mimic the behavior.](https://www.usatoday.com/gcdn/presto/2023/07/07/USAT/20063155-66d9-4186-afcb-84f78d98e93d-promo-art-orca.jpg?crop=6586,3784,x0,y3416&width=980&height=564&format=pjpg&auto=webp)
After four years and hundreds of incidents, researchers remain puzzled why orcas, also known as killer whales, continue to ram boats – sinking a few of them – along the Iberian Peninsula. The most-recent incident was the sinking of a yacht on Oct. 31 in the Strait of Gibraltar.
The origin of these interactions remain a "great mystery," said Alfredo López, a University of Santiago biologist, but he does not believe the behavior is aggressive. Orcas are large dolphins, López said. And like dolphins, the events could stem from the orcas’ curious and playful behavior, such as trying to race the boats.
López, who specializes in orcas, and his team, Grupo de trabajo Orca Atlántica (GOTA) , have tracked these encounters since 2020. The team’s recent study theorizes the orcas could also be exhibiting cautionary behavior because of some previous traumatic incident.
Where have killer whales interacted with boats?
GOTA has tracked more than 350 interactions just on the Iberian Peninsula since 2020. Most have taken place along the Strait of Gibraltar, but the orcas’ mischief or self-defense may be spreading north. An incident was reported in June in the Shetland Islands in Scotland .
GOTA defines interactions as instances when orcas react to the presence of approaching boats, such as:
- Interaction without physical contact.
- Some physical contact without damage.
- Contact that causes serious damage that could prevent the navigation of the boat.
Recent incidents when orcas attacked boats and sank them
The Oct. 31 incident occurred in the Strait of Gibraltar where a pod of orcas sank a mid-size sailing yacht named the Grazie Mamma after a 45-minute interaction, Live Science reported .
On June 19 an orca rammed a 7-ton yacht multiple times off the Shetland Islands in Scotland, according to an account from retired Dutch physicist Dr. Wim Rutten in the Guardian.
"Killer whales are capable of traveling large distances, so it is not out of the ordinary that an animal could travel that far," said Tara Stevens, a marine scientist at CSA Ocean Sciences Inc. "To my knowledge, this data is not available, so we cannot confirm at this time if these are the same animals."
Including the Oct. 31 incident, orcas have sunk four boats this year. The previous sinking occured in May , off the coasts of Portugal and Spain, but whale expert Anne Gordon told USA TODAY in May that the incidents shouldn't heighten concerns about the whales.
"Yes, they're killer whales. And yes, their job is to be predators in the ocean, but in normal circumstances there is absolutely zero threat to humans in a boat," Gordon said .
Most of the interactions have involved sailboats, but fishing boats, semi-rigid boats and motorboats haven’t gone unscathed.
Are these the same killer whales attacking boats or unrelated incidents?
López hypothesizes that the interactions could be a self-induced behavior where you're "inventing something new and repeat it. This behavior coincides with the profile of the juveniles." He said it could also be response to an aversive situation: "One or several individuals had lived a bad experience and tried to stop the boat so as not to repeat it. This behavior coincides with the profile of adults."
"Fifteen different orcas from at least three different communities" have been identified, López said. And they are probably teaching the habit to others, or the others are mimicking the behavior. "Without a doubt orcas learn by imitation," López said. The majority of the culprits are juveniles that touch, push and sometimes turn the vessels. He noted that adult males don't appear to be involved.
"Killer whales are incredibly intelligent animals that do learn behaviors from observation of other individuals," Stevens said. "Typically, very unique behaviors such as this are learned 'within' group, meaning individuals of the group may learn from each other and participate, but that does not necessarily mean that the behavior is shared outside the group with other individuals."
Which pods of killer whales are battering the boats?
Orcas operate in a social structure called a pod. These pods generally are a group of several generations of related orcas. Hierarchies are established within them, and they communicate and learn from one another, the study reads.
GOTA researchers have identified the individuals responsible for the interactions . One large pod is made up of three generations. It starts with grandmother Gladis Lamari, her daughter, grandchildren and a few other relatives.
Another pod comprises siblings Gladis Negra and Gladis Peque. Both have been photographed interacting with boats. Their mother, Gladis Herbille, has generally just watched her children at a distance from the boats, the study said.
A third group in the study are siblings and a cousin.
Orcas often tracking bluefin tuna
The movements of orcas depend on the location of their main food source, bluefin tuna. The migratory movements of tuna are very dynamic and predicting exactly where interactions will take place is very difficult, the report said. According to NOAA , Atlantic bluefin tuna are the largest in the tuna family and can reach a length of 13 feet and up to 2,000 pounds. They are a highly migratory species and can migrate thousands of miles across an entire ocean.
About the Iberian orcas
While they are called killer whales, orcas are actually the largest member of the dolphin family. This aquatic marine mammal family includes whales, dolphins and porpoises.
The Iberian orca is a subpopulation of the Atlantic orca population. These orcas are from the Strait of Gibraltar and the Gulf of Cádiz. Iberian orcas are small: 16 to 21 feet compared with Atlantic orcas that measure almost 30 feet.
Orcas in general are fast, reaching speeds up to 27.6 mph. By comparison, a 39-foot sailboat travels at about 9.2 mph.
What should you do if your boat is attacked by killer whales
The study recommended these tips to reduce the duration and intensity of the interaction.
- Stop the boat.
- Leave the rudder loose.
- Radio for help.
According to the GOTA study, most of the vessels involved in interactions are medium-sized (less than 49 feet) sailboats, with a paddle rudder, sailing at an average of 6.9 mph, under both sail and motor.
The interactions have been mostly concentrated in the spring and summer months and have been concentrated in the midday hours. They've lasted on average for 40 minutes, but several last less than 30 minutes.
Types of rudders Iberian orcas have approached
"It is very common for dolphins to interact with the boats and approach," López said. "Before 2020, the orcas did it with frequency but they weren't classified as attacks. Now, sometimes they touch the boat and the encounter is unfairly classified as an attack. They judge socially before understanding what (orcas) do."
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2 Yacht Passengers Rescued After Whales Sink Their Boat in Growing Trend That Has Scientists Divided
Reports of aggressive encounters between orcas and sailboats on the Iberian coast off of Europe began in 2020 and have ramped up since then
Orcas have sunk another yacht off the Strait of Gibraltar — the latest incident in a growing trend that initially began in 2020.
A sailing yacht went down in Moroccan waters in the Strait of Gibraltar after an unknown number of orcas repeatedly rammed into it, according to BBC , NBC News and Fox News .
At around 9 a.m. local time on Sunday, May 12, a pair of crew members aboard the vessel, Alboran Cognac, reported that orcas damaged their yacht, which had been about 14 miles from Cape Spartel in Morocco at the time, Fox News reported.
Spain's maritime rescue service told BBC that the two passengers called for help after they felt something hit the hull and rudder, which caused the yacht to take on water.
A helicopter was sent by Spain's maritime rescue service to the location to rescue the crew members and a nearby oil tanker was also redirected to their location to provide assistance. The oil tanker was able to respond quickly and the two crew members were taken onboard and transported safely to Gibraltar, per the outlets.
Meanwhile, the crew members’ sailing yacht was left adrift and eventually sunk into the ocean.
Reports of aggressive encounters between orcas and sailboats in the Iberian coast off of Europe began in 2020, according to Maritime Executive , and the incidents have ramped up since then.
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The reason behind the growing number of boat attacks by orcas in the area has perplexed researchers, though some have theorized that the killer whales were taught this behavior by other members of their species.
Alfredo López Fernandez, a marine biologist at the University of Aveiro in Portugal, told Live Science he believed the interactions began after one orca, called "White Gladis," who had been “traumatized’ by an incident with a vessel and “started this behavior of physical contact" with boats. He said other killer whales then copied it.
Scientists from research center CIRCE noted that a group of three orcas from the same pod have been involved in several boat rudder interactions, though they added that they believed the orcas were "engaging with sailboats as a form of entertainment" rather than a form of hunting.
Marine biologist Dr. Renaud de Stephanis told the BBC, “From what I’m seeing, it’s mainly two of those guys [the Gladises] in particular that are just going crazy. They just play, play and play. . . . It just seems to be something they really like and that’s it.”
“I’ve seen them hunting,” the biologist added. “When they hunt, you don’t hear or see them. They are stealthy, they sneak up on their prey. I’ve seen them attacking sperm whales - that’s aggressive....but these guys, they are playing."
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What is known about the sinking of a luxury yacht off the coast of Sicily and those aboard
Specialist cave divers working in 12-minute underwater shifts are searching for six missing passengers and crew, including British tech tycoon Mike Lynch, believed to be in the submerged wreck of a luxury yacht that was slammed by a powerful storm and ...
PORTICELLO, Sicily -- Specialist cave divers working in 12-minute underwater shifts were searching Tuesday for six missing passengers and crew, including British tech tycoon Mike Lynch, believed to be in the submerged wreck of a luxury yacht that was slammed by a powerful storm and swiftly sank off Sicily.
The sleek yacht, named the Bayesian, was carrying a crew of 10 people and 12 passengers when it suddenly sank near the Mediterranean island that is part of Italy at about 4 a.m. on Monday. One body has been recovered and 15 people survived.
Fire rescue officials have said the six believed to remain in the sailboat's hull will be considered missing until they are located in the wreckage.
Here's what we know so far about the sinking and those who were on board.
Italian civil protection officials believe a sudden and fierce storm that battered the coast of Sicily in the early hours of Monday whipped up a waterspout in the exact spot where the 56-meter (184-foot) British-flagged Bayesian was moored.
Karsten Borner, the captain of another yacht moored nearby, said he saw the Bayesian during the storm but when the wild weather passed it was gone and he saw only a red flare lighting the night sky, the Italian news agency ANSA and the Giornale di Sicilia newspaper reported.
Borner and one of his crew boarded their tender and found a lifeboat carrying 15 people, some of them injured. They took them aboard their yacht and alerted the coast guard.
Rescue authorities said the wreck was resting at a depth of 50 meters (163 feet) about a half mile offshore of the picturesque fishing village of Porticello.
Among the missing is 59-year-old tech tycoon Mike Lynch , sometimes described as the British Bill Gates. Lynch was acquitted in June of all charges in a U.S. fraud trial linked to the $11 billion sale of his software company Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard in 2011.
Lynch still faced a potentially huge bill stemming from a civil case in London that HP mostly won during 2022. Damages haven’t been determined in that case, but HP is seeking $4 billion. Lynch made more than $800 million from the Autonomy sale.
A Cambridge-educated mathematician, Lynch made his name running Autonomy, which made a search engine that could pore through emails and other internal business documents to help companies find vital information more quickly.
Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter Hannah was reportedly among the missing. His wife, Angela Bacares, and 14 other people survived.
Among others still missing Tuesday, according to the civil protection agency, were one of Lynch’s U.S. lawyers, Christopher Morvillo of Clifford Chance, and Morvillo’s wife, Neda. Morvillo was regarded as an elite defense lawyer and was also a federal prosecutor in New York after 9/11.
Also missing was Jonathan Bloomer, the non-executive chairman of Morgan Stanley International, and his wife, Judy. He is the former head of the Autonomy audit committee and testified for the defense at Lynch’s trial.
Bloomer was also chair of the Hiscox Group, an insurer that does business on the Lloyd’s of London market.
“We are deeply shocked and saddened by this tragic event,” Hiscox CEO Aki Hussain said in a statement.
Among the survivors was Charlotte Golunski, who said she momentarily lost hold of her 1-year-old daughter Sofia in the water, but then managed to grab her and hold her up over the waves until a lifeboat inflated and they were both pulled to safety, ANSA reported. The father, identified by ANSA as James Emslie, also survived.
The Dutch foreign ministry said a Dutch man survived. The ministry, citing privacy, did not release his identity.
One body was recovered on Monday, identified as the on-board chef.
The Bayesian was a luxury yacht built in 2008 by the Italian firm Perini Nav. It was known for its single 75-meter (246-feet) aluminum mast — one of the world’s tallest. Online charter sites listed it for rent for up to 195,000 euros (about $215,000) a week.
Its registered owner is listed as Revtom Ltd., based on the Isle of Man, according to online maritime database Equasis. Lynch’s wife is listed as Revtom’s sole owner, according to corporate registration documents from the Isle of Man.
The yacht's name is an apparent reference to “Bayesian inference,” one of the two main approaches to statistical machine learning and the one that was used by Autonomy.
Waterspouts are tornadoes that form over water and can happen when a storm moves across warm water.
According to the U.S. National Ocean Service, there are two types of waterspouts — fair-weather and tornadic.
Tornadic waterspouts “have the same characteristics as a land tornado. They are associated with severe thunderstorms, and are often accompanied by high winds and seas, large hail, and frequent dangerous lightning,” the service says on its website.
While scientists haven’t attributed the specific event to climate change, average monthly surface temperatures have been at record highs for months . Hotter air can hold more moisture, making heavier storms more likely.
Sicily has been baking under intense heat this summer , and the United Nations’ panel of climate change experts notes the Mediterranean Sea is particularly vulnerable to climate change, with warming rates roughly 20% higher than the global average.
Experts say it is extraordinarily rare for a luxury sailboat of this size to capsize due to weather events.
“This just doesn’t happen. You know, boats sink because things like keels fall off, or they run aground and breach the hull ... whereas just from a weather angle, a boat that big being pushed over on its side is absolutely extraordinary,” said Skip Novak, a lifelong sailor who has taken part in multiple round the world yacht races and written books about sailing.
Novak said he believed that strong gusts likely pushed the yacht over 90 degrees to its side, and the vessel did not recover because of the weight of the huge mast and because it was anchored. He suggested that internal doors were likely not closed, and water quickly poured in to sink the vessel.
“When you’re at anchor, even if it’s blowing with a storm in the Mediterranean, you rarely shut the whole boat down because nobody expects something like this to happen," Novak told The Associated Press. “So if the boat wasn’t completely watertight at the deck, you’d have flooding going in. It would take a couple minutes and that would be it."
As the search for the missing continues, authorities already have begun trying to piece together exactly what happened.
Prosecutors from the Sicilian town of Termini Imerese have opened an investigation, as is normal in such events even when no suspects are identified. To date, they have not commented publicly.
The British Marine Accident Investigation Branch said four of its inspectors were being deployed to Palermo.
Corder reported from The Hague, Netherlands. Associated Press writer Sylvia Hui in London contributed to this report.
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How sinking of luxury yacht off Sicily unfolded
One man has died and six people are missing after a luxury yacht sank in freak weather conditions off the coast of Sicily.
The 56m British-flagged Bayesian was carrying 22 people - 12 passengers and 10 crew - when a heavy storm that created waterspouts over the water struck early on Monday.
Fifteen people were rescued and a search operation for those unaccounted for - who include the British tech tycoon Mike Lynch - is ongoing.
Here is what we know about the tragedy so far, and how it unfolded.
LIVE UPDATES - British tech tycoon Mike Lynch among missing after yacht sinks
What happened to the yacht?
The Bayesian was struck by a sudden and powerful storm in the early hours of Monday morning, witnesses say.
It was reportedly anchored to the sea bed outside the harbour at Porticello, a small fishing village to the east of Palermo, when what the Italian coastguard described as a "violent storm" hit.
The storm was so fierce that it caused waterspouts, or rotating columns of air and mist, to appear over the sea.
Witnesses told Italian news agency Ansa that the Bayesian’s anchor was down when the storm struck, causing the 72m (236ft) aluminium mast to break in half and the ship to lose its balance and sink.
It disappeared beneath the water at about 05:00 local time (04:00 BST).
Karsten Borner, captain of a nearby boat, said after the storm had passed, the crew noticed the yacht that had been behind them had disappeared.
"We saw a red flare, so my first mate and I went to the position, and we found this life raft drifting," he told Reuters.
His crew took on board some survivors, including three who were seriously injured.
Another witness, Fabio Cefalù, captain of a trawler, said he was about to go out on a fishing trip when he saw flashes of lightning so he stayed in the harbour.
"At about 4:15am we saw a flare in the sea," he said, according to the EVN news agency reports.
"We waited for this waterspout to pass. After 10 minutes we went out to the sea and we saw cushions and all the rest of the boat [that had sunk], and everything which was on the deck, at sea. However, we did not see any people in the sea.”
Another fisherman described seeing the yacht "sinking with my own eyes".
Speaking to the newspaper Giornale di Sicilia, the witness said he was at home when the tornado hit.
"Then I saw the boat, it had only one mast, it was very big," he said.
Shortly afterwards he went down to the Santa Nicolicchia bay in Porticello to get a better look at what was happening.
He added: "The boat was still floating, then all of a sudden it disappeared. I saw it sinking with my own eyes."
One of the survivors, British tourist Charlotte Golunski, told Italian newspaper La Repubblica how she held up her one-year-old daughter Sofia to stop her from drowning.
She said the two of them and her partner James survived only because they were up on deck when the yacht sank.
They were woken by “thunder, lightning and waves that made our boat dance”, and it felt like "the end of the world" before they were thrown into the water.
Charlotte said: "For two seconds I lost my daughter in the sea then quickly hugged her amid the fury of the waves."
She added: "I held her afloat with all my strength, my arms stretched upwards to keep her from drowning.
"It was all dark. In the water I couldn't keep my eyes open. I screamed for help but all I could hear around me was the screams of others."
Who was on board?
There were 22 people on board when the storm hit, including 12 passengers and 10 crew.
One body has been recovered. It has not been formally identified, but the Palermo coastguard said it was the ship's cook. His nationality has not been confirmed.
Among the six people still missing is 59-year-old tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, known by some as the "British Bill Gates".
Mr Lynch founded software giant Autonomy in 1996 and was made an OBE for services to enterprise in 2006.
In June, he was cleared of conducting a massive fraud relating to an 11 billion dollar (£8.64 billion) sale to US company Hewlett Packard.
Afterwards, he told the BBC in an interview he had been able to prove his innocence only because he had the wealth to pay the enormous legal fees required.
Sicily's civil protection agency also confirmed to the BBC that Mr Lynch's 18-year-old daughter Hannah, Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer, and Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo are among those missing.
La Repubblica reports that the six missing include four British nationals and two Americans.
Mr Lynch's wife Angela Bacares is among the 15 people to have been rescued, with eight of those receiving treatment in hospital, the Italian coastguard said.
Charlotte Golunski, her husband and daughter Sofia were also rescued and were unharmed, but taken to hospital for check-ups.
She said they had been on the yacht with a group of colleagues.
The daily Il Giornale di Sicilia newspaper reported the vessel had mostly British passengers on board, but also people from New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Ireland and British-French citizens.
A doctor based in Palermo said the "very tired" survivors were "constantly asking about the missing people".
Dr Domenico Cipolla told Reuters one woman he treated described the trip as a "corporate holiday", with some of those on board "very young".
"There were a lot of work colleagues, friends, a few husbands, wives, or a couple of friends who had joined in," he adds.
What is the latest with the search?
Six passengers remain missing and the Palermo coastguard says the search and rescue operation is continuing "incessantly".
Police divers have identified a wreckage about 50 metres below the surface.
On Monday, four patrol boats, a helicopter and a team of divers were involved in the search. A naval and underwater team from the Palermo fire brigade also joined.
Footage from the wreckage site showed helicopters circling over several coastguard vessels as divers wearing bright orange descended into the water.
Francesco Venuto, a spokesperson for Sicily's civil protection agency, told the BBC on Monday rescue teams fear the bodies of those missing "must be" in the boat.
"We've been searching all day with helicopters and boats, we've found nothing. That wouldn't make sense, in this conditions we should have found something by now," he added.
On Monday, the UK's Marine Accident Investigation Branch sent a team of four investigators to carry out a preliminary assessment of the Bayesian's sinking, the BBC understands.
The director general of Sicily's civil protection agency, Salvatore Cocina, said the rescue operation would recommence at 06:30 local time (05:30 BST) on Tuesday.
A specialist caving search and rescue diving team arrived from Rome on Monday, hoping to "achieve results" either during the night or by Tuesday morning at the latest, he said.
What is a waterspout and why do they form?
A waterspout is similar to a tornado and can form over oceans, seas or large lakes.
The western half of the Mediterranean has experienced severe storms since the middle of last week.
Through Sunday night and into Monday morning, a clutch of bad weather passed by the north coast of Sicily.
BBC Weather forecaster Matt Taylor said: "A waterspout is a tornado that has occurred over water rather than land.
"They can form during intense storms, on the base of cumulonimbus/thunder clouds.
"Turbulence, and the wind blowing in slightly different directions around the cloud, can cause rotation under the base of the cloud and the spout to form.
"Like tornadoes, they bring powerful winds, but instead of picking up dust and debris they cause a water mist around the column of rotating air."
What is the Bayesian, and who owns it?
The superyacht can accommodate up to 12 guests in six suites, and is listed for rent for up to 195,000 euros (£166,000 ) a week.
She was built in 2008 by Italian company Perini Navi.
The Bayesian's registered owner is listed as Revtom Ltd, which is based on the Isle of Man.
The yacht's name is understood to derive from the Bayesian theory, which Mr Lynch's PhD thesis and the software that made his fortune was based on.
Mr Lynch's wife Ms Bacares is named as the sole legal owner of Revtom, which is registered in the Isle of Man.
The Bayesian completed a number of sailings in recent days, calling at various ports in Sicily, according to ship-tracking website VesselFinder.
A spokesperson for Camper and Nicholsons International, the firm that manages the 2008-built boat, told BBC Verify: "Our priority is assisting with the ongoing search and providing all necessary support to the rescued passengers and crew."
'For two seconds I lost my baby in the sea' - Sicily yacht survivor
Who is British tech tycoon Mike Lynch?
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Last moments of Bayesian yacht as it's battered by storm before sinking
Newly released CCTV footage has shown the moment the Bayesian superyacht was engulfed by a suspected waterspout.
Six passengers onboard the boat , including tech tycoon Mike Lynch , 59, his daughter Hannah, 18, and chairman of Morgan Stanley international Jonathan Bloomer, remain missing after the yacht sank early Monday morning.
The blurry footage shows the lights of the distant boat seen from a marina as rain batters the vessel.
Follow Metro.co.uk’s live blog for latest updates on the Bayesian yacht sinking
Suddenly, the lights disappear, and the boat is no longer visible. Local Giornale Di Sicilia said: ‘In just sixty seconds – says the owner of the villa – you can see the ship disappear.
‘Of about twenty cameras installed in the house, only one was not disturbed by the wind and rain. You can clearly see what is happening.
‘There was nothing that could be done for the boat. It disappeared in a very short time.’
A total of 15 other passengers, including Mr Lynch’s wife Angela Bacares, have been rescued so far while one person, the boat’s chef, has been found dead.
Emergency responder Luca Cari told Italian daily Giornale Di Sicilia divers can stay underwater for a maximum of 12 minutes, so the searches are being carried out for 10 minutes per dive.
According to reports, Mr Lynch and the group were on holiday celebrating after Mr Lynch was acquitted of fraud in June following a high-profile court case over the company’s sale.
The Italian Coastguard believes Mike Lynch and five other missing people may still be inside the sunken yacht, a spokesman said.
Vincenzo Zagarola told the PA news agency this was the working theory of officials on Sicily because it is believed the boat sank quickly and search and rescue efforts by sea and air have so far delivered no results.
He said: ‘We think they are still inside the boat, that is our very hard idea.
‘Our search and rescue activity by sea and air has gone on for around 36 hours.
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‘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.’
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected] .
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What Is Known about the Sinking of a Luxury Yacht off the Coast of Sicily and Those aboard
ANDREA ROSA and MIKE CORDER Tuesday, 20 August 2024 10:00 AM EDT
PORTICELLO, Sicily (AP) — Specialist cave divers working in 12-minute underwater shifts were searching Tuesday for six missing passengers and crew, including British tech tycoon Mike Lynch, believed to be in the submerged wreck of a luxury yacht that was slammed by a powerful storm and swiftly sank off Sicily.
The sleek yacht, named the Bayesian, was carrying a crew of 10 people and 12 passengers when it suddenly sank near the Mediterranean island that is part of Italy at about 4 a.m. on Monday. One body has been recovered and 15 people survived.
Fire rescue officials have said the six believed to remain in the sailboat's hull will be considered missing until they are located in the wreckage.
Here's what we know so far about the sinking and those who were on board.
Italian civil protection officials believe a sudden and fierce storm that battered the coast of Sicily in the early hours of Monday whipped up a waterspout in the exact spot where the 56-meter (184-foot) British-flagged Bayesian was moored.
Karsten Borner, the captain of another yacht moored nearby, said he saw the Bayesian during the storm but when the wild weather passed it was gone and he saw only a red flare lighting the night sky, ANSA and the Giornale di Sicilia newspaper reported.
Borner and one of his crew boarded their tender and found a lifeboat carrying 15 people, some of them injured. They took them aboard their yacht and alerted the coast guard.
Rescue authorities said the wreck was resting at a depth of 50 meters (163 feet) about a half mile offshore of the picturesque fishing village of Porticello.
Among the missing is 59-year-old tech tycoon Mike Lynch, sometimes described as the British Bill Gates. Lynch was acquitted in June of all charges in a U.S. fraud trial linked to the $11 billion sale of his software company Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard in 2011.
Lynch still faced a potentially huge bill stemming from a civil case in London that HP mostly won during 2022. Damages haven’t been determined in that case, but HP is seeking $4 billion. Lynch made more than $800 million from the Autonomy sale.
A Cambridge-educated mathematician, Lynch made his name running Autonomy, which made a search engine that could pore through emails and other internal business documents to help companies find vital information more quickly.
Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter Hannah was reportedly among the missing. His wife, Angela Bacares, and 14 other people survived.
Among others still missing Tuesday, according to the civil protection agency, were one of Lynch’s U.S. lawyers, Christopher Morvillo of Clifford Chance, and Morvillo’s wife. Morvillo was regarded as an elite defense lawyer and was also a federal prosecutor in New York after 9/11.
Also missing was Jonathan Bloomer, the chairman of Morgan Stanley International, and his wife, Judy. He is the former head of the Autonomy audit committee and testified for the defense at Lynch’s trial.
Bloomer was also chair of the Hiscox Group, an insurer that does business on the Lloyd’s of London market.
“We are deeply shocked and saddened by this tragic event,” Hiscox CEO Aki Hussain said in a statement. “Our thoughts are with all those affected, in particular our chair, Jonathan Bloomer, and his wife Judy, who are among the missing, and with their family as they await further news from this terrible situation.”
Among the survivors was Charlotte Golunski, who said she momentarily lost hold of her 1-year-old daughter Sofia in the water, but then managed to grab her and hold her up over the waves until a lifeboat inflated and they were both pulled to safety, Italian news agency ANSA reported. The father, identified by ANSA as James Emslie, also survived.
The Dutch foreign ministry said a Dutch man survived. The ministry, citing privacy, did not release his identity.
One body was recovered on Monday, identified as the on-board chef.
The Bayesian was a luxury yacht built in 2008 by the Italian firm Perini Nav. It was known for its single 75-meter (246-feet) aluminum mast — one of the world’s tallest. Online charter sites listed it for rent for up to 195,000 euros (about $215,000) a week.
Its registered owner is listed as Revtom Ltd., based on the Isle of Man, according to online maritime database Equasis. Lynch’s wife is listed as Revtom’s sole owner, according to corporate registration documents from the Isle of Man.
The yacht's name is an apparent reference to “Bayesian inference,” one of the two main approaches to statistical machine learning and the one that was used by Autonomy.
Waterspouts are tornadoes that form over water and can happen when a storm moves across warm water.
According to the U.S. National Ocean Service, there are two types of waterspouts — fair-weather and tornadic.
Tornadic waterspouts “have the same characteristics as a land tornado. They are associated with severe thunderstorms, and are often accompanied by high winds and seas, large hail, and frequent dangerous lightning,” the service says on its website.
While scientists haven’t attributed the specific event to climate change, average monthly surface temperatures have been at record highs for months. Hotter air can hold more moisture, making heavier storms more likely.
Sicily has been baking under intense heat this summer, and the United Nations’ panel of climate change experts notes the Mediterranean is particularly vulnerable to climate change, with warming rates roughly 20% higher than the global average.
As the search for the missing continues, authorities already have begun trying to piece together exactly what happened.
Prosecutors from the Sicilian town of Termini Imerese have opened an investigation, as is normal in such events even when no suspects are identified. To date they have not commented publicly.
The British Marine Accident Investigation Branch said four of its inspectors were being deployed to Palermo.
Corder reported from The Hague, Netherlands.
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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Door left open thought to be cause of sinking of luxury £16m superyacht off Greek island
A dramatic video shows a luxury superyacht lurching to one side as it started sinking, despite being renovated just months ago, article bookmarked.
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Footage has emerged of the moment a £16 million luxury Italian superyacht sunk off the coast of a Greek island .
The 47-metre yacht was spotted lurching to one side when sailing near Paliokaravo Bay, Kefalonia, which is west of the Greek mainland.
Five tourists and five crew members were successfully evacuated from the vessel as it ran aground in Evretis Bay where it then anchored, according to local outlet Gazetta .
One of the crew members reportedly left a side door open allowing an influx of water when the weather in the area “turned”, Greek website Protothema reported.
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The crew did not notice the open door until it was too late and the vessel, called Ethos, had started sinking.
Safety systems were activated effectively and the crew of Ethos - which was flying the flag of Malta - disembarked without any injury.
A private boat at the scene helped to tug the yacht as two harbour guards oversaw the operation, with a professional diver expected to inspect the underside of the boat.
Earlier this year the boat underwent renovation after being purchased for $16 million by its new owner, who received the yacht in September last year.
Ethos was built in 2014 by Admiral and can host up to 12 guests and nine crew members onboard its steel and aluminium structure.
Renters can enjoy stays with a gym, jacuzzi, steam room and jetskis onboard the yacht - but will have to fork out a huge £180,000 to do so for a week.
The upper deck boasts a master suite, a vast dining area, Turkish bath and a Sauter piano - but the luxury vessel will be out of action for the foreseeable future as work gets underway to pump the water out of the boat.
It comes just days after a yacht turned on its side entirely off Chesapeake Bay in the US state of Maryland, with five people on board as the 122-foot boat turned on its side.
The yacht sunk in just five minutes with passengers having to be rescued from the water after they abandoned ship on Saturday. No casualties were reported.
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BC Coroners confirms one fatality after three people rescued from sinking boat near Victoria. The BC Coroners Service has confirmed there was a fourth person on a vessel that sank off of Victoria last Friday and sadly they have passed. A dramatic rescue operation took place off the coast of Victoria over the weekend, as three individuals and ...
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Princess Victoria was launched on 27 August 1946 and completed in 1947 by William Denny and Brothers, Dumbarton for the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS). She was the first purpose-built ferry of her kind to operate in British coastal waters and the fourth ship to bear the name, her 1939 predecessor, on minesweeping duties, having been sunk during World War II in the Humber Estuary by ...
The Associated Press. TOFINO, British Columbia (AP) — Investigators sought to determine what caused a whale watching boat with 27 people on board to sink off Vancouver Island in seemingly calm ...
Cdn dead after yacht sinks Italy 1:22 pm - 8,255 views; George Santos pleads guilty United States 1:19 pm - 486 views; Platform not updated United States 10:50 am - 943 views; More World News
The frantic search for survivors involved steamers, trawlers, a naval boat and the Donaghadee lifeboat, the Sir Samuel Kelly. ... Only 44 men survived the sinking of the Princess Victoria - more ...
The most-recent incident was the sinking of a yacht on Oct. 31 in the Strait of Gibraltar. The origin of these interactions remain a "great mystery," said Alfredo López, a University of Santiago ...
At around 9 a.m. local time on Sunday, May 12, a pair of crew members aboard the vessel, Alboran Cognac, reported that orcas damaged their yacht, which had been about 14 miles from Cape Spartel in ...
Victoria Steamer disaster - Cove Bridge, Springbank Park. The Victoria steamboat disaster (also called The Victoria Day Disaster) was a Canadian maritime disaster that took place on May 24, 1881, when the sternwheel passenger steamboat Victoria, capsized and sank in the Thames River near what is today Greenway Off-Leash Dog Park in Kensal Park, London, Ontario.
The sleek yacht, named the Bayesian, was carrying a crew of 10 people and 12 passengers when it suddenly sank near the Mediterranean island that is part of Italy at about 4 a.m. on Monday. One ...
One sailing expert says hatches and doors left open overnight on the Bayesian may have caused it to sink. Weather records show temperatures reached about 33C the day before the sinking. Sam ...
3:17 At least 1 dead, 6 missing after storm sinks luxury yacht off Sicily At least one person was confirmed dead on Monday, after a luxury yacht sunk off the coast of Sicily in the early morning ...
One man has died and six people are missing after a luxury yacht sank in freak weather conditions off the coast of Sicily. The 56m British-flagged Bayesian was carrying 22 people - 12 passengers ...
The blurry footage shows the lights of the distant boat seen from a marina as rain batters the vessel.. Follow Metro.co.uk's live blog for latest updates on the Bayesian yacht sinking
#superyacht #superyachts #yachts #boatsSuperYacht Owner Dies in Accident | Eyewitness Tells of Yacht Capsizing | SY News Ep124 Update on sinking of MY 007Own...
Here's what we know so far about the sinking and those who were on board. Italian civil protection officials believe a sudden and fierce storm that battered the coast of Sicily in the early hours of Monday whipped up a waterspout in the exact spot where the 56-meter (184-foot) British-flagged Bayesian was moored.
Door left open thought to be cause of sinking of luxury £16m superyacht off Greek island. A dramatic video shows a luxury superyacht lurching to one side as it started sinking, despite being ...