A luxury sailing yacht with 22 people on board sank in Porticello near Palermo early Monday morning, killing one person and a search for six others is underway.
The cause of the disaster was that the 56-meter-long ship was hit by a hurricane and sank almost immediately. Divers said they could not enter the wreckage at the bottom of the sea because of the furniture. It is expected that the bodies of the missing will be recovered from there.
The yacht's captain spoke for the first time on Tuesday morning. James Cutfield, who is currently recovering in the emergency room at Termini Imerese, said just one sentence, according to La Repubblica: “We didn't expect this to happen,” the captain was quoted as saying. Sky News.
It was already known that UK tech mogul Mike Lynch was among the six people who disappeared from the luxury yacht, but now it has been revealed that Morgan Stanley chairman Jonathan Plummer and his wife Judy have not been found. Neither have been found. The news was also confirmed by Morgan Stanley and insurance company Hiscox, which Plummer also chairs. Both companies wrote that they were “deeply shocked” by the news of the tragedy.
Shortly after, news came in that attorney Chris Morvillo's wife, Nida, had also disappeared. Morvillo, an attorney at the renowned Clifford Chance firm, was confirmed to be among the missing six.
Warm weather and poor visibility may play a role.
According to oceanographer Simon Boxall, unusually warm weather and poor visibility at night are key factors in explaining the yacht's sinking. Sky News.
After weeks of scorching heat, storms and heavy rain have swept across Italy, contributing to the violent storm seen yesterday morning. Boxall said it would be “extremely difficult” for the yacht to respond to the sudden change in weather, which he said was being “fueled” by warm seas.
If you look at the temperatures measured by satellites last Sunday and Monday in the Mediterranean, they were three and a half degrees warmer than the 20-year average for August. The warm seas have really fueled these water explosions.
The researcher said.
According to Boxall, the fact that the storm was at night didn't help the captain either. “When a storm is blowing during the day, you can see things coming. You can see them on the horizon. But you can't see at night,” he explained.
