yacht yogi wikipedia

The 5 tragic minutes that sank a superyacht

PORTICELLO, Italy — Survivors of a storm that sank a superyacht off Sicily recounted their ordeal to one of the doctors who rushed to their aid, with some saying it took mere minutes for the 180-foot ship to go down. 

Dr. Fabio Genco, head of the Palermo Emergency Medical Services, told NBC News on the phone Thursday that he arrived in the seaside village of Porticello before dawn Monday, about an hour after the $40 million Bayesian sank in the violent and sudden storm.   

Of the 22 people onboard, 15 survived despite storm conditions and darkness, climbing onto a lifeboat before being rescued by a nearby sailboat. The crew members have made no public statements so far, though some have been interviewed by investigators.

“They told me that it was all dark, that the yacht hoisted itself up and then went down,” Genco said, recounting what the survivors told him. “All the objects were falling on them. That’s why I immediately made sure, by asking them questions, if they had any internal injuries,” he said. 

It appears they had just minutes to abandon the sinking ship, Genco said. 

“They told me that suddenly they found themselves catapulted into the water without even understanding how they had got there,” he said, “And that the whole thing seems to have lasted from 3 to 5 minutes.”

Giovanni Costantino, CEO of The Italian Sea Group, which owns Perini Navi, the Bayesian's shipbuilder, told Sky News that there were no flaws with the design or construction of the yacht. He said their structure and keel made boats like that “unsinkable bodies.”

In an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, he disavowed responsibility, blaming instead the actions of the crew. “Mistakes were made,” he said. 

Genco said one of his colleagues who arrived at the scene before him initially thought that only three people survived, but the coast guard reported there were other survivors and more emergency services were called in. 

When Genco arrived, he found scenes of panic and despair. 

“Unfortunately, we are used to such panic scenes because we are used to the shipwrecks that happen on Lampedusa ,” Genco said, referring to the island southwest of Sicily, where the wreckage of boats carrying migrants on the sea journey from North Africa to Italy are often found . 

Six of the passengers were declared missing Monday, and by Thursday, the bodies of five had been recovered from the wreck , some 160 feet underwater.

Among those who survived is Angela Bacares, wife of the British tech mogul Mike Lynch , whose body was recovered Thursday. 

Another survivor has been identified as Charlotte Emsley, 35. She told the Italian news agency ANSA that she had momentarily lost hold of her year-old daughter, Sofia, in the water but managed to retrieve her and hold her over the waves until a lifeboat inflated and they were pulled into safety.

Dr. Domenico Cipolla at the Di Cristina Children’s Hospital in Palermo is also part of a team of medical professionals treating the shipwreck survivors. He told the BBC on Wednesday that Emsley and her daughter, as well as the father of the child, who Cipolla said also survived, are continuing to receive psychological help. 

“Psychological support was constant and is constant even today, because basically it is the wounds of the soul that are the most in need of healing in these cases,” Cipolla said.

Genco also told NBC News that he was especially concerned about the child. “She did not understand anything. She was soaking wet and cold,” he said. 

Karsten Borner, the Dutch captain of the Sir Robert Baden Powell, a yacht that was anchored near the Bayesian, said by phone Wednesday that he saw a thunderstorm come in at around 4 a.m. local time (10 p.m. ET) Monday, followed by what looked like a waterspout, a type of tornado that forms over water. 

The International Centre for Waterspout Research noted on X that there was a “waterspout outbreak” off Italy on Monday, the day the Bayesian sank. 

“I turned on the engine and made maneuvers so that we wouldn’t collide with the Bayesian, which was anchored about 100 meters from us,” Borner said. “Then all of a sudden it disappeared. Then the wind calmed down, we looked around and saw a red flare.”

Borner said he got into his boat’s tender and saw a life raft with 15 people on it. Members of the crew were administering first aid. 

“I don’t know why it sank so quickly, but it may have something to do with the mast which was incredibly long,” he said. Questions have been raised about whether the mast was to blame for the accident as tall masts, even with the sails down, have more surface area exposed to the wind, which can contribute to tipping a vessel in a storm.

The CCTV footage that emerged Tuesday showed the yacht’s 250-foot mast, believed to be one of the tallest aluminum sailing masts in the world, lashed by the storm as it appears to tilt to one side before disappearing.

Claudia Rizzo is an Italy based journalist.

Claudio Lavanga is Rome-based foreign correspondent for NBC News.

Yuliya Talmazan is a reporter for NBC News Digital, based in London.

• THE PRINCESS PASSPORT
• Email Newsletter
• Yacht Walkthroughs
• Destinations
• Electronics
• Boating Safety
• Ultimate Boat Giveaway

What Sank the Superyacht Yogi?

• By Kim Kavin
• Updated: March 25, 2013

yogi-running2-high-res-fin.jpg

In February 2012, the yachting industry was shocked to learn that the acclaimed 197-foot Proteksan-Turquoise Yogi had sunk in the Aegean Sea. She was barely a year old and still collecting awards for her design and craftsmanship, and then suddenly, she was gone.

Now, about a year later, the French Bureau d’Enquêtes sur les Évènements de Mer—also known as BEAmer—has released its 40-page report about the sinking. The report concludes that three aft compartments aboard Yogi flooded, causing the vessel to become unstable and sink. However, the report fails to pinpoint a cause of the flooding.

The report does hint at a possible problem with Yogi ‘s stern door, noting that the door seal had been replaced to make it “a more appropriate color.” Other work in that section of the yacht had included removing and re-installing the stern door to refit chests that held the swim ladders.

The report also states that originally requested warranty work had included addressing crew complaints about overall instability when Yogi was at sea, and that Yogi had a different superstructure than her sisterships, one that raised her center of gravity. The report’s conclusions urge naval architects and designers to “ban architectural options that pose risks for vessel safety,” but stop short of calling Yogi an unstable design.

Following the release of the BEAmer report, Mehmet Karabeyoglu, managing director at Proteksan-Turquoise, issued a statement that affirms the report’s conclusion that the shipyard adhered to all rules and regulations during the construction process. However, he criticized the report as “a limp effort” that contained factual inaccuracies. In particular, he noted that Yogi ‘s owner did originally request a new stability-related test, but then withdrew that request, leaving the yard to assume that everything was fine when the yacht was at sea.

“We can only conclude that stability was not an issue, otherwise the captain would not have sailed for months if he had doubts about stability and certainly would not have sailed into poor weather,” Karabeyoglu stated.

The upshot is that finger-pointing and backroom whispers about what sank Yogi is likely to continue for years to come. The yacht remains about 1,600 feet underwater off the coast of Skyros, Greece.

Click here to view photos of Yogi ‘s tragic end.

• More: Motoryachts , Yachting News Headlines , Yachts
• More Yachts

Luxury Yacht Giants Unite: Nautor Swan and Sanlorenzo Group Merger

Halo 470 Reviewed

Superyacht Collision, Sinking Incident, Takeaways and Lessons

Riviera to Unveil 6800 Sport Yacht at Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show

For Sale: Riviera Belize 54 Daybridge

KVH Expands Its Hybrid Network with OneWeb’s LEO Satellites

• Digital Edition
• Customer Service
• Privacy Policy
• Terms of Use
• Email Newsletters
• Cruising World
• Sailing World
• Salt Water Sportsman
• Sport Fishing
• Wakeboarding

The Howorths

The Sinking of the Superyacht Yogi

The superyacht Yogi has sunk in heavy weather off the Greek island of Skyros Her crew of 8 were all were winched to safety by the Greek airforce. The Greek coastguard reported that the rescue operation lasted roughly an hour and that no one was injured. Reports on the Greek coastguard website said mechanical failure was to blame for the sinking, which happened in a north-westerly Force 8. Yogi was the middle of three yachts to be launched by her Turkish builder in the spring of 2011. The first to emerge was Turquoise and within weeks of Yogi taking to the water the 74 metre Talisman C joined her sisters on the dock face at the Pendik shipyard. The video of the rescue operation can be viewed here:

Share this:

By SuperyachtNews 17 Feb 2012

Superyacht 'Yogi' sinks off coast of Skyros, Greece

The 60.2m proteksan turquoise vessel, 'yogi' has sunk off the coast of skyros in greece. speaking to superyachtnews.com, captain jean louis carrel confirmed everyone onboard was safe.….

Διάσωση Επιβαινόντων σε Γαλλική Θαλαμηγό from haf.webmaster on Vimeo .

Join the discussion

To post comments please Sign in or Register

When commenting please follow our house rules

Click here to become part of The Superyacht Group community, and join us in our mission to make this industry accessible to all, and prosperous for the long-term. We are offering access to the superyacht industry’s most comprehensive and longstanding archive of business-critical information, as well as a comprehensive, real-time superyacht fleet database, for just £10 per month, because we are One Industry with One Mission. Sign up here .

Sign up to the SuperyachtNews Bulletin

Receive unrivalled market intelligence, weekly headlines and the most relevant and insightful journalism directly to your inbox.

Sign up to the SuperyachtNews Bulletin

The superyachtnews app.

Follow us on

Media Pack Request

Please select exactly what you would like to receive from us by ticking the boxes below:

SuperyachtNews.com

Register to comment

Why Did This Superyacht Sink? Part 2. (And It’s Complicated)

Last week we ran a video about the $40 million superyacht Yogi . It was less than a year old when it sank in the Aegean, and at more than 195 feet, it was the largest yacht ever to sink. The video asked the obvious question, why did this yacht sink?

Now we have part two of the video, which is an attempt to answer that question, based on the report by French authorities and other reporting. And it’s complicated. You can see the video below.

Yog i was launched at the Proteskan Turquoise yard in Turkey in April, 2011, and it was registered in France. It returned to the factory for some work, including the reseating of the transom door, in October. On Feb. 17, 2012, the yacht was cruising in the Aegean with eight crew on board.

At 0140 the engineer saw that the starboard engine exhaust was overheating. He tried to call the captain on the bridge, but the phone was out of order. He then tried the emergency intercom, but that didn’t work either. He did not have a handheld VHF radio, although there were 14 on board.

The engineer went to the bridge to tell the captain to shut down the engine, but it had already stopped. Then the port engine had the same problem. It shut down automatically.

The autopilot was off and the captain couldn’t start the two steering motors controlling the rudders. At 0238 the rudders were stuck at 30 degrees to starboard, there was flooding aft, the boat was stern-to the waves, dead in the water, and listing dangerously.

At 0420 the captain made a Mayday call, saying he had lost steering and the boat was flooding.

A Greek Coast Guard helicopter arrived and had removed all the crew by 08:30. It reported winds of 30 to 40 knots and seas of 18 to 25 feet. Yogi sank later that day.

So what happened? The French report found that the yacht had been running at 16.4 knots, the engines’ full load. It noted, among other things, that there was a watertight failure with the stern door, and flooding in the beach club and the steering room. There were problems with crew fatigue. And then there was the suicide. See the video here:

About Author

Related Posts

New NorthCoast 415HT Is a Sportfisherman You Can Cruise

Explore Indonesia’s Vast Archipelago on Boutique Luxury Yachts

Marine Industry Leaders Gather to Discuss Sustainability

Comments are closed.

• Yachts for sale
• Yachts for charter
• Brokerage News

• Yogi: Inside the largest yacht that ever sank
• Yacht Harbour

Latest News

Wreck of the Megayacht Yogi

Only a few months ago, the Yogi was judged to be the most innovative light yacht at the Cannes International Boat Show. However, early one morning in late February, the $39 million, virtually new megayacht sank into the Aegean Sea. All crew survived, but questions remain surrounding what is surely a very expensive mistake.

Ostensibly, an engine exhaust issue precipitated the first mayday call. However, yet to be explained is how a watertight hatch blew open, why the stern was presented to the sea, why the Yogi was traveling at top speed in near-gale conditions, whether or not the emergency pumping system engaged, how such a technologically sophisticated ship with eight watertight compartments flood over the course of five hours, and whether or not the contents of the ship’s bar was rescued.

[ Power and Motor Yacht ]

Signup for Our Newsletter

Stay updated. Get our latest and most popular stories. It’s free.

DriveMag Boats

Your ultimate resource for anything ship-related

New video of the sinking of superyacht Yogi emerges

Courtesy of GoPro

A new video captures the rescue of the crew members of superyacht Yogi.

Shot on GoPro cameras by the Greek Coast Guard, the video was published on GoPro's YouTube page.

The video was released five years after the sinking of Proteksan-Turquoise yacht M/Y Yogi in the Aegean Sea.

The video shows a Coast Guard officer rappeling from the helicopter to the sinking vessel.

Two Greek Air Force helicopters, a Navy frigate and four commercial ships responded to the distress call made by the crew of superyacht Yogi.

You can read more about this superyacht disaster in our dedicated article about M/Y Yogi .

The 60m Superyacht Yogi is Launched by Proteksan-Turquoise Yachts

• Inspiration

Related News

Popular news this week, popular news this month, latest news.

• Yacht Charter & Superyacht News >

Written by Mike Smith

In early march 2011 the 60.2 metre luxury motor yacht ‘YOGI’ (hull NB49) was completed and ready for launch by Proteksan-Turquoise . The Yogi yacht is the second successful yacht launch by the Turkish shipyard superyacht builder so far this year in 2011. The designer of the yacht was Jean Guy Verges, with input by the Proteksan-Turquoise in-house design team and owner.

A Rendering of the 60m Superyacht Yogi which is now launched by Proteksan-Turquoise

Jean Guy Verges designed the Superyacht Yogi exterior lines and shape and he also designed the yacht’s interior. The yacht’s light grey hull is steel and her near white superstructure has been built from aluminium.

Yacht Yogi has expedition/explorer yacht feel and she was built and designed for oceangoing cruising vessel. The luxury yacht has a high, broad and powerful looking bow, in keeping with the explorer yacht tradition. She also has unusually spacious aft and external deck areas. This can be particularly said of her main aft deck platform, which accommodates a generous outside pool and peripheral entertainment area.

This heated swimming pool is very interesting in that it features a glass bottom in the design which throws light down to the boats beach club zone, as situated below the pool. The innovative beach club, with massage room, flows to the outside and onto the main swimming bathing platform to aft, as well as accessing a side balcony. The main tender garage is also situated in the aft.

An ideal yacht for charter or private use, her exterior entertainment and relaxation features include a sun deck spa pool pool, with sun mats, a Teppanyaki bar and relaxation area, amongst other amenities.

Superyacht Yogi’s Jean Guy Verges designed interior guest accommodation is also spacious, with a certain intimacy created with some asian styling influences. The yacht accommodates the maximum 12 guests in six staterooms, in a five double and one 1 twin layout (all with ensuite), giving her plenty of room for charter or private owner use. Yacht Yogi’s master suite area includes the master bedroom, his & hers bathrooms, a private owner lounge and day area, along with an office and dressing room. Both the yacht’s master suite and her VIP stateroom are situated up on the main deck and the four extra double cabins are positioned below on her lower deck.

The bow area is well utilised for the stowing of some tenders and water toys, thereby alleviating some space for the aft deck areas, which are very important for sheltered entertainment and access to the water. Also, Yogi’s bow area just in front of the bridge gives way to seating where lucky guests can witness ocean vistas pass by.

Superyacht Yogi is ABS classed (as complying with MCA) and she has a top speed of 16 knots and a cruise speed of 13 knots. The propulsion is produced by her twin Caterpillar 1,911hp 3512B diesel engines. A range of 5,000 nautical miles can be achieved at 12 knots.

Yogi will be available for luxury Mediterranean yacht charters at a rate from between €357,000 per week in the low season and up to €378,000 per week during the high season plus expenses, MYBA terms. Please contact us for more.

Please contact CharterWorld - the luxury yacht charter specialist - for more on superyacht news item "The 60m Superyacht Yogi is Launched by Proteksan-Turquoise Yachts".

• Charity & Fund Raising
• CharterWorld News
• Classic Yachts
• Coronavirus
• Cruise Ship
• Ecological Yachts
• Expedition Yachts
• Expert Broker Advice
• Feature Superyachts
• Interior Design
• Legal & VAT Yacht Issues
• Luxury Catamarans
• Luxury Gulet
• Luxury Phinisi
• Luxury Trimarans
• Luxury Yacht Design
• Luxury Yachts
• Marinas & Harbours
• Marine Ecology
• Marine Electronics
• Marine Equipment
• Mega Yachts
• Modern Yachts
• Motor Yachts
• New Launch Yachts
• New To Charter
• Open Style Sports Yachts
• Private Jets
• Sailing Yachts
• Social Media
• Sports Yachts
• Superyacht Crew
• Superyacht Photographers
• Superyacht Products & Supplies
• Superyacht Refits
• Superyacht Reviews
• Superyachts
• Uncategorized
• Yacht Builders
• Yacht Charter
• Yacht Charter Destinations
• Yacht Charter Picks
• Yacht Charter Specials
• Yacht Delivered to Owner
• Yacht Designers
• Yacht Events & Boat Shows
• Yacht Fashion
• Yacht Industry News
• Yacht Photos
• Yacht Racing
• Yacht Racing & Regattas
• Yacht Safety Equipment
• Yacht Support Vessels
• Yacht Tenders
• Yacht Videos
• Yachting Associations
• Yachting Awards
• Yachting Business
• Yachts For Charter
• Yachts For Sale

Quick Enquiry

Superyacht news:.

Email Your Yachting News to: news @ charterworld.com

Proteksan-turquoise

The Mediterranean

Charter yacht YOGI launched by Proteksan Turquoise

Three consecutive superyacht launches for Proteksan Turquoise

2011 Super Yacht Yogi by Proteksan & Turquoise

Motor yacht Talisman C by Proteksan Turquoise set for 2 year World Cruise after her delivery in June

55m superyacht YN20555 is launched by Heesen Yachts and named superyacht SERENA

Van der Valk Shipyard announce 35m explorer yacht SAMBA

Abeking & Rasmussen’s 41-meter superyacht NURJA relaunched after refit

Aegean Yachts unveil 26m explorer yacht HEKATE

OCEA delivers 33m motor yacht ARAOK II to her new owner

39m sailing yacht LINNEA AURORA launched by SES Yachts

A luxury charter yacht is the perfect way to encounter New England’s fall foliage display

Charter yachts offering citizen science opportunities around the world

A first look at 55m superyacht PROJECT AGNETHA from Heesen Yachts

Late summer special offer on board 72m superyacht ARBEMA in the Western Mediterranean

44m superyacht ORION ONE reaches a construction milestone

44m charter yacht JEMS offers 9 days for the price of 7 in August in Italy

Nice! 😀 I quite like Yahtzee (although I haven’t played it in a while) and I thought these facts were pretty cool. Keep the nice work up! 🙂

hey im doing a report it helped me out a little bit thnx bye

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Currently you have JavaScript disabled. In order to post comments, please make sure JavaScript and Cookies are enabled, and reload the page. Click here for instructions on how to enable JavaScript in your browser.

Recent Posts

• Bear’s Head Tooth Fungus
• Fortune Cookie
• White Baneberry
• Tunnel of Love
• Reed Flute Cave

Sponsors and Disclosure

Receive posts via email.

Enter your email address:

Want a specific topic?

• Celebrities and Entertainment
• Health and Human Anatomy
• Religon and Occasions
• Solar System
• Structures, History and Countries
• Transportation

CNN values your feedback

A tornado sank a luxury sailing boat off the coast of sicily. here’s what we know.

Emergency workers in southern Italy are still hunting for at least one person who remains missing after a tornado sank a luxury yacht early Monday – prompting an air and naval operation off the coast of Sicily .

Twenty-two people are thought to have been on the yacht when the tragedy struck. Fifteen people were rescued from the wreckage, according to Italy’s Coast Guard. One body was recovered on Monday and five more were found on Wednesday, after divers struggled to reach deep inside the yacht around 50 meters underwater (approximately 150 feet).

Two Americans and four Britons were among the six initially reported missing – including British tech tycoon Mike Lynch, Jonathan Bloomer, chairman of Morgan Stanley International, and Chris Morvillo, a prominent lawyer. The five bodies found Wednesday have not been identified, while the body recovered Monday is thought to be that of the onboard chef Ricardo Thomas.

Here’s what we know.

What happened?

A small waterspout – a type of tornado – spun over the Mediterranean island early Monday, likely capsizing the sailing boat amid lashings of rain and strong thunderstorms.

The British-flagged yacht, called the “Bayesian,” was anchored about a half a mile from the port of Porticello, on Sicily’s northern coast. The vessel sank after its mast broke in half in the storm, Salvatore Cocina, head of Sicily’s Civil Protection, told CNN on Tuesday.

Eyewitnesses described furious gales and hurricane-like winds that left an avalanche of debris near the pier.

More than a dozen survivors were spotted in the area hanging onto life rafts, according to the captain of a nearby boat, who steadied his ship to avoid colliding with the Bayesian.

“We got this strong hurricane gust and we had to start the engine to keep the ship in an angled position,” Karsten Bower told reporters in Palermo on Monday. “After the storm was over, we noticed that the ship behind us was gone.”

Related article Former co-defendant of British tycoon missing in luxury yacht sinking dies after being struck by car

Bower and his crew rescued four injured people, he said, before calling Italy’s Coast Guard – who later rescued the remaining survivors.

One of those rescued – a child – was airlifted to the children’s hospital in Palermo. Eight people were hospitalized in total, according to the mayor’s office.

The girl’s mother, Charlotte, described how she battled to hold onto Sofia, her 1-year-old daughter, as reported by Italian news agency ANSA.

“In two seconds I lost the baby in the sea, then I immediately hugged her again amidst the fury of the waves. I held her tightly, close to me, while the sea was stormy,” she told journalists. “Many were screaming.”

The mother and daughter were later reunited with the father, James, according to a doctor at the local children’s hospital in Palermo.

“The survivors are very tired and are constantly asking about the missing people,” the doctor, Domenico Cipolla, said Monday. “They are talking and crying all the time because they have realized that there is little hope of finding their friends alive.”

Italy’s fire brigade dispatched helicopters to aid in the search, officials said Monday. After an unsuccessful attempt on Monday, the brigade sent divers to try and enter the sunken ship Tuesday, recommencing the operation on Wednesday.

The depth of the wreck means divers can only work there for limited periods of time, according to Marco Tilotta, an inspector for the diving unit of Palermo’s local fire brigade. The Italian fire brigade said Monday its divers had reached the yacht’s hull 49 meters (160 feet) below sea level.

The United Kingdom’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) said it has deployed a team of four inspectors to Palermo which is conducting a preliminary assessment of the scene.

Who was on board?

Twenty-two people were on board the Bayesian, which was flying under a British flag and had mostly British passengers and crew, in addition to two Anglo-French, one Irish and one Sri Lankan person, a spokesperson for Italy’s Coast Guard told CNN.

A troupe of high-profile guests are among those missing, including Lynch, the 59-year-old British tech investor who fought a fraud case earlier this year in the United States – which spiraled from the disastrous $11 billion sale of his company to tech firm Hewlett-Packard (HP) in 2011.

His 18-year-old daughter was also named missing. Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, survived the accident. Bacares told Italian daily newspaper La Repubblica that she woke up at 4 a.m. local time, as the boat tilted. She and her husband were not initially concerned, she said, but became worried when the windows of the yacht shattered and chaos erupted.

Bacares spoke to the newspaper while sitting in a wheelchair, at a hospital in the Sicilian town of Termini Imerese. She had abrasions on her feet and bandages on other parts of her body, it reported.

Bloomer, the finance tycoon, and Morvillo, a prominent lawyer – and both their wives – are also among the missing, according to Salvatore Cocina, head of Sicily’s Civil Protection.

Morvillo, an American partner at Clifford Chance, was involved in successfully defeating the US fraud case against Lynch in June. Another employee of the firm, Ayla Ronald, and her partner, survived the incident, according to a spokesperson for Clifford Chance.

The body that was recovered from the vessel on Monday was identified as the onboard chef Ricardo Thomas, an Antiguan citizen, Reuters reported.

What do we know about the boat?

Built in 2008, the 56-meter (184-foot) yacht was manufactured by Italian company Perini Navi, Reuters reported. According to the Associated Press, the boat has been available for charter for $215,000 (€195,000) per week.

Lynch’s wife is linked to the yacht. The Bayesian is held by the company Revtom Limited, according to records from the maritime information service Equasis. The company’s latest annual return from April lists Bacares as the proprietor.

“Bayesian,” the name given to the vessel, is linked to the statistical theory on which Lynch built his fortune, according to Reuters.

The yacht’s mast stood 72.27 meters (237 feet) high above the designated water line, just short of the world’s tallest mast which is 75.2 meters, according to Guinness World Records. It was the tallest aluminium mast in the world, the Perini Navi website said.

Perini Navi is known for making “good quality boats,” according to Caroline White, deputy editor of BOAT International, a media group serving the superyacht industry.

White told CNN that if the Bayesian dismasted, “it should theoretically become more stable.” “But it might be a different story if you are in the middle of a violent storm with incredibly strong winds pinning you to the water,” she added.

Dangerous weather conditions

Strong storms across Sicily brought torrential rainfall late Sunday. Initial reports suggest a small  waterspout , which developed over the area Monday morning, could have been behind the yacht’s sinking.

Waterspouts – one of several types of tornadoes – are spinning columns of air that form over water, or move from land out to water. They are often accompanied by  high winds, high seas, hail and dangerous lightning . While they are most common over tropical oceans, they can form almost anywhere.

Matthew Schanck, chair of the Maritime Search and Rescue Council, told CNN that while waterspouts in Sicily are rare, “there is a risk” they can happen – just not every day.

Waterspouts rely on warm waters to gain energy and the Mediterranean Sea has been very hot, reaching a record  daily median of 28.9 degrees Celsius  (84 Fahrenheit) last week, according to preliminary data from researchers at the Institute of Marine Sciences in Spain.

Local temperatures have been even higher, with waters around Sicily reaching almost 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit), almost 3 degrees more than normal, Italian climatologist Luca Mercalli told CNN.

“Warmer oceans have more energy and more humidity to transfer to the atmosphere, the most important fuels for storms,” he said.

CNN’s Laura Paddison, Louis Mian, Benjamin Brown, Catherine Nicholls, Sabrina Souza, Niamh Kennedy and Eve Brennan contributed reporting.

Show all

'.concat(e,"

'.concat(i,"

Automatically renews at ').concat(n.labelSubtext,"/").concat(n.billingInterval," . Cancel anytime.

\n ').concat(n,'\n

\n ').concat(t,'\n

This page will automatically redirect in 5 seconds...

').concat(o).concat(n,"

\n '+(null!=(o=r(e,"if").call(u,null!=n?r(n,"cta2PreText"):n,{name:"if",hash:{},fn:l.program(20,t,0),inverse:l.noop,data:t,loc:{start:{line:29,column:20},end:{line:29,column:61}}}))?o:"")+"\n"+(null!=(o=(r(e,"ifAll")||n&&r(n,"ifAll")||l.hooks.helperMissing).call(u,null!=n?r(n,"cta2Text"):n,null!=n?r(n,"cta2Link"):n,{name:"ifAll",hash:{},fn:l.program(22,t,0),inverse:l.noop,data:t,loc:{start:{line:30,column:20},end:{line:35,column:30}}}))?o:"")+"

\n \n '+i((u=null!=(u=p(e,"title")||(null!=n?p(n,"title"):n))?u:c,(0,_typeof2.default)(u)===s?u.call(r,{name:"title",hash:{},data:t,loc:{start:{line:20,column:73},end:{line:20,column:82}}}):u))+" \n "+i((u=null!=(u=p(e,"subtext")||(null!=n?p(n,"subtext"):n))?u:c,(0,_typeof2.default)(u)===s?u.call(r,{name:"subtext",hash:{},data:t,loc:{start:{line:21,column:24},end:{line:21,column:35}}}):u))+"\n \n