
Bayesian superyacht completes its final journey to Sicilian port
PORTICELLO, Italy, June 23, (AP): A British-flagged luxury superyacht that sank off Sicily last year, killing U.K. tech magnate Mike Lynch and six others, completed its final trip to the Sicilian port of Termini Imerese Sunday, a day after recovery crews finalized the complex operation to lift it out of the water. The white top and blue hull of the 56-meter (184-foot) Bayesian, covered with algae and mud, was kept elevated by the yellow floating crane barge off the port of Porticello, before being transferred to Termini Imerese, where it docked in the early afternoon.
On Monday, the delicate recovery operation will be concluded, as the vessel will be transported to shore and settled in a specially built steel cradle. Then it will be made available for investigators for further examinations to help determine the cause of the sinking. The Bayesian sank Aug. 19 off Porticello, near Palermo, during a violent storm as Lynch was treating friends to a cruise to celebrate his acquittal two months earlier in the US on fraud charges.
Lynch, his daughter and five others died. Fifteen people survived, including the captain and all crew members except the chef. Italian authorities are conducting a full criminal investigation. The vessel was slowly raised from the seabed 50 meters (165 feet) deep over three days to allow the steel lifting straps, slings and harnesses to be secured under the keel.
The Bayesian is missing its 72-meter (236-foot) mast, which was cut off and left on the seabed for future removal. The mast had to be detached to allow the hull to be brought to a nearly upright position that would allow the craft to be raised. British investigators said in an interim report issued last month that the yacht was knocked over by "extreme wind' and couldn't recover.

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Arab Times
13 hours ago
- Arab Times
Bayesian superyacht completes its final journey to Sicilian port
PORTICELLO, Italy, June 23, (AP): A British-flagged luxury superyacht that sank off Sicily last year, killing U.K. tech magnate Mike Lynch and six others, completed its final trip to the Sicilian port of Termini Imerese Sunday, a day after recovery crews finalized the complex operation to lift it out of the water. The white top and blue hull of the 56-meter (184-foot) Bayesian, covered with algae and mud, was kept elevated by the yellow floating crane barge off the port of Porticello, before being transferred to Termini Imerese, where it docked in the early afternoon. On Monday, the delicate recovery operation will be concluded, as the vessel will be transported to shore and settled in a specially built steel cradle. Then it will be made available for investigators for further examinations to help determine the cause of the sinking. The Bayesian sank Aug. 19 off Porticello, near Palermo, during a violent storm as Lynch was treating friends to a cruise to celebrate his acquittal two months earlier in the US on fraud charges. Lynch, his daughter and five others died. Fifteen people survived, including the captain and all crew members except the chef. Italian authorities are conducting a full criminal investigation. The vessel was slowly raised from the seabed 50 meters (165 feet) deep over three days to allow the steel lifting straps, slings and harnesses to be secured under the keel. The Bayesian is missing its 72-meter (236-foot) mast, which was cut off and left on the seabed for future removal. The mast had to be detached to allow the hull to be brought to a nearly upright position that would allow the craft to be raised. British investigators said in an interim report issued last month that the yacht was knocked over by "extreme wind' and couldn't recover.


Arab Times
14 hours ago
- Arab Times
Russian attacks on Ukraine kill at least 10 and injure dozens
KYIV, Ukraine, June 23, (AP): Russian drones and missiles killed at least 10 civilians in Ukraine in nighttime attacks, local officials said Monday, with seven deaths reported in the capital, Kyiv, where emergency crews raced to find people believed trapped under the rubble of a partially collapsed apartment building. Russia fired 352 drones and decoys overnight, as well as 11 ballistic missiles and five cruise missiles, Ukraine's air force said. Air defenses intercepted or jammed 339 drones and 15 missiles before they could reach their targets, a statement said. The strikes came nearly a week after a combined Russian attack on Ukraine last Tuesday killed 28 people in Kyiv, 23 of them in a residential building that collapsed after sustaining a direct hit by a missile. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called that attack one of the biggest bombardments of the war, now in its fourth year. Russian forces have for several months been trying to drive deeper into Ukraine as part of a renewed summer push along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, though the Institute for the Study of War said their progress has been limited. "Russian forces have failed to make significant gains during this period of intensified offensive operations, however due in part to the fact that Russian forces are largely relying on poorly trained infantry to make gains in the face of Ukraine's drone-based defense,' the Washington-based think tank said late Sunday. At the same time, Russia has pounded civilian areas with long-range strikes in an apparent attempt to weaken public morale. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said preliminary data indicated that Russian forces used North Korean missiles in the Kyiv strike. He called Russia, North Korea and Iran, which has provided drones to Russia, a "coalition of murderers' and warned of a potential spread of the "terror' if their alliance continues. Zelenskyy said Ukraine's defense and new ways to pressure Russia will be the two main topics in his visit to the United Kingdom on Monday. Drones and missiles hit residential areas, hospitals and sports infrastructure in numerous districts across Kyiv in the early hours of Monday, emergency services said. The most severe damage was in the Shevchenkivskyi district, where a section of a five-story apartment building collapsed.


Arab Times
a day ago
- Arab Times
Extremist Gunman Opens Fire, Detonates Explosives In Syrian Church
DWEIL'A, Syria (AP) — A suicide bomber in Syria on Sunday detonated himself inside a Greek Orthodox church filled with people, killing at least 13, Syrian state media reported. The explosion in Dweil'a in the outskirts of Damascus took place as people were praying inside the Mar Elias Church. SANA, citing the Health Ministry, said that at least 53 others were wounded. Britain-based war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said there were at least 19 peopled killed and dozens of others wounded, but did not give exact numbers. Some local media reported that children were among the casualties. The attack on the church was the first of its kind in Syria in years, and comes as Damascus under its de facto Islamist rule is trying to win the support of minorities. As President Ahmad al-Sharaa struggles to exert authority across the country, there have been concerns about the presence of sleeper cells of extremist groups in the war-torn country. No group immediately claimed responsibility Sunday, but the Syrian Interior Ministry said an extremist from the Islamic State group entered the church, fired at the people there before detonating himself with an explosives vest, echoing some witness testimonies. Syrian Information Minister Hamza Mostafa condemned the attack, calling it a terrorist attack. 'This cowardly act goes against the civic values that brings us together,' he said on X. 'We will not back down from our commitment to equal citizenship … and we also affirm the state's pledge to exert all its efforts to combat criminal organizations and to protect society from all attacks threatening its safety.' Church Bishop Moussa Khoury said the attacker also threw a grenade into the church during the afternoon Mass. 'He started shooting, went and then he blew up the church,' he told The Associated Press. A witness who identified himself as Rawad told AP he saw the attacker who was accompanied by two others who fled as he was driving near the church. 'He was shooting at the church … he then went inside the church and blew himself up,' he said. However, Meletius Shahati, a church priest, said there was a second gunman who shot at the church door before the other person detonated himself. Security forces and first-responders rushed to the church. Panicked survivors wailed, as one lady fell to her knees and burst into tears. A photo circulated by Syrian state media SANA showed the church's pews covered in debris and blood.