Luxury yacht sinks off Sicily in storm; 1 dead and 6 missing

At least one man was killed and six people were missing Monday after a luxury superyacht sank near the Sicilian capital of Palermo during a violent storm, Italian officials said. 

The 184-ft sailboat with 22 people on board “suddenly sank” at around 5 a.m. local time (11 p.m. ET) “probably due to the terrible weather conditions,” the City Council of Bagheria said in a statement. 

A strong storm and a tornado hit the area and the coast around an hour earlier, it added.

A baby, around a year old, was being treated at a children’s hospital, the statement said. It added that seven adults were taken to the emergency room but “it seems that none are in serious conditions.” 

Another seven people were at the Port Authority in nearby Porticello, the statement said. Six were missing, the statement said. Volunteers from various organizations “are going there to help,” it added. 

In a separate statement, Italy’s Fire Department said that “divers, a motorboat and a helicopter,” had been deployed to help with the search. 

The wreck was at a depth of around 165-ft, the statement said,   

Divers from the Sicilian city of Sassari and Naples, a city on the Italian mainland, were “arriving on site to search inside the sunken vessel,” it added. 

Italy’s coast guard named the yacht as the Bayesian, built by Italian shipbuilder Perini in 2008, according to The Associated Press, which reported that the luxury vessel has an aluminum hull and can carry 12 guests and a crew of up to 10, according to online specialist yacht sites. Online sites list it for charter for up to 195,000 euros (about $215,000) a week, the AP reported.

The boat left the Sicilian port of Milazzo on Aug. 14 and was last tracked east of Palermo on Sunday evening, with a navigation status of “at anchor,” according to vessel tracking app Vesselfinder.

Fabio La Bianca, 40, took a picture of the boat at around 10 p.m. local time Sunday night shortly after he closed his bar in nearby Santa Flavia. “Absurd tragedy tonight. I am lost for words,” the 40-year-old said in a Facebook post Monday.