PALERMO, Sicily (Reuters) -One person died and six people were missing after a luxury yacht was struck by a whirlwind and sank off the coast of the Sicilian capital Palermo, Italian media reported.
Italy’s fire brigade and coast guard had earlier said divers were searching for seven missing people and did not immediately confirm that a body had been found.
The 56-metre-long (184-ft) luxury sailboat, which was British registered, sank with 22 people on board when it was hit by a violent storm at sunrise, the coast guard said in a statement.
It said one crew member and six passengers were missing, adding that they were of British, American and Canadian nationality.
Eight of those rescued, including a one-year-old child, were transferred to local hospitals and were all in a stable condition, local media reported.
The coast guard named the yacht as the ‘Bayesian’, which was built by Italian shipbuilder Perini in 2008.
The luxury ship has an aluminium hull, can reach a maximum speed of 15 knots and can carry 12 guests and a crew of up to 10, according to online specialist yacht sites.
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.
(Reporting by Giulia Segreti, Sachin Ravikumar in London, editing by Alvise Armellini, Giles Elgood and Crispian Balmer)
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