Search efforts continued on Wednesday
to find the six missing passengers of the Bayesian luxury
sailboat that sank off Porticello near Palermo at dawn on
Monday.
Firefighter divers late Tuesday were able to unhinge a
three-meter-wide window and used it as an entry point, thanks to
jackscrews expressly made by a locksmith in Porticello.
They were able to access the sailboat's common area but not the
cabins, the Italian fire and rescue service said.
Rescuers said this could require some time as some entrances
could be blocked.
Search efforts are continuing although the sailboat is lying on
the starboard side, a position which makes operations more
difficult.
The president of Morgan Stanley International, Jonathan Bloomer,
has been confirmed as one of six passengers missing.
The other missing passengers are his wife Anne Elizabeth Judith
Bloomer, British tech tycoon and yacht owner Mike Lynch, his
18-year-old daughter Hannah, Lynch's lawyer Chris Morvillo and
his wife Nada Morvillo.
The Bayesian, with 22 people on board, sank after a tornado hit
the area.
Coast guards rescued 15 passengers but seven others were
reported missing, including one person whose body was recovered
later on Monday morning after firefighter divers reached the
boat located at a depth of some 50 metres, half a mile from the
coast.
The victim was later identified as Ricardo Thomas, who worked on
board as chef.
One of the survivors is a one-year-old child who was taken to
Palermo's paediatric hospital.
British tycoon Lynch, 59, is the founder of the multinational
computer company Autonomy.
Called the 'British Bill Gates', Lynch had ended up at the
centre of a high-profile fraud case and in June a US jury
acquitted him of all charges relating to the sale of his
software company to Hewlett-Packard in 2011.
His wife Angela Bacares was among those rescued.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
