The 56-meter S/Y Bayesian capsized and sank in the early morning hours of August 19 with 12 guests and 10 crew on board. The Italian Coast Guard initially rescued 15 people, and search operations were conducted for the remaining passengers. Those seven people have been confirmed dead.
Managers Camper & Nicholsons confirmed that Bayesian“encountered severe weather and subsequently sank near Palermo, Italy, at around 4:30 local time,” in their statement. Their priority is “assisting with the ongoing search and providing all necessary support to the rescued passengers and crew.”
The wreck is located about 50 meters deep, according to Italian fire department Vigili del Fuoco, and a male body was recovered by divers outside the wreck. Divers managed to access the inside of the yacht on the last dive that evening, inspecting some rooms with operations to inspecting the inside of the wreck continuing the following day.
On August 21, four bodies were recovered by divers inside Bayesian. In addition to the challenging depth, the divers have to contend with the narrowness of the vessel and the presence of numerous objects, Vigili del Fuoco shares. Another body was recovered from the yacht and brought ashore at 8:00 local time on August 22. As of 1:30 pm local time on August 23, the last missing person was recovered, concluding rescue activities.
A crew member on board shared “that the boat was struck by a freak weather event which led to the yacht heeling at around 20 degrees to starboard. As crewmembers were securing items, the heeling angle began to increase rapidly until the yacht started sinking,” in an account obtained by BOAT International.
The crew who were on deck were able to evacuate with minor injuries, and it is believed that the yacht sunk in about 12 minutes from a “major ingress” of water from the top down.
The captain of a nearby vessel told Reuters that they managed to keep the boat in position but noticed the yacht was gone after the storm was over. His crew found some of the survivors on a life raft and took them on board before the coast guard picked them up.
More than 40 specialist divers assisted in the search operations, and from the Bayesian’s sinking to the recovery of the last person, firefighters completed 123 dives for a total of 4,370 minutes.
Dockwalk will update this story as information becomes available.