The captain of the doomed Bayesian superyacht that capsized off the coast of Italy on Monday said the crew and passengers had no idea a tornado was about to rage through the region until their ship sank.
Captain James Catfield, who piloted the 184-foot, British-flagged luxury yacht, was among the 15 crew members and passengers to survive after the tornado struck Monday before sunrise.
“We didn’t see it coming,” Catfield told Italian newspaper La Repubblica from the hospital, where he was limping due to an injury.
One person, believed to be the on-ship chef, died in the wreck and six people remain missing, including British tech tycoon Mike Lynch and top New York City lawyer Christopher Morvillo.
Morvillo’s wife, Neda, a jewelry designer, is also one of the six passengers still missing, officials said.
In addition to the Morvillos and Lynch, the missing include Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter, Hannah, as well as Jonathan Bloomer, a chairman at Morgan Stanley International, and Bloomer’s wife, Judy.
What to know after a tornado sank the yacht Bayesian off the coast of Sicily, leaving one dead and six missing:
- A superyacht capsized off the coast of Sicily after a tornado hit the area early Monday, killing one passenger and leaving five others missing — including Michael Lynch, a tech tycoon known as “Britain’s Bill Gates,” officials said.
- Lynch had invited guests from the legal firm that represented him, Clifford Chance, and Invoke Capital, his own company, on the voyage, according to the Telegraph.
- Captain James Catfield, who piloted the 184-foot, British-flagged craft, was among the 15 crew members and passengers to survive after the tornado struck Monday before sunrise.
- Security camera footage shot from 650 feet from where the Bayesian sank Monday shows it slowly disappearing.
- Italian authorities have said the chances of the passengers surviving the disaster was very small, but “never say never.”
Morvillo, 59, helped Lynch, the owner of the capsized luxury boat, win his fraud trial earlier this year.
Lynch had invited guests from the legal firm that represented him, Clifford Chance, and Invoke Capital, his own company, on the voyage, according to the Telegraph.
The boat left the Sicilian port of Milazzo on Aug. 14 and was last tracked east of Palermo on Sunday evening, according to vessel tracking app Vesselfinder.
Police divers continued their search for the missing passengers Tuesday, focusing on an area some 164 feet underwater, where officials believe people may be trapped.
The search thus far has been slow because the Bayesian sits 50 meters below the surface, where divers can only stay for 12 minutes at a time, fire rescue officials said Tuesday.
Fire officials have said the six people unaccounted for will be referred to as “missing” until they are located in the wreckage.
With Post wires
