As Luxury Yacht Sank, Passengers and Crew Fought Frantically to Escape, Using Air Pockets and Furniture: Investigators

Yahoo

15-05-2025

Six passengers and one crew member were killed when the Bayesian yacht sank in August 2024 amid severe weather off the coast of Sicily, but 15 people survived
A new report from U.K. investigators details some of the chaotic moments escaping the doomed vessel
Those on board had to move quickly to get out — and there were multiple close callsThe sudden sinking of the Bayesian luxury yacht last August involved frantic escape attempts for the 12 passengers and 10 crew on board, U.K. investigators wrote in a new report.
The interim findings of the Marine Accident Investigation Branch, released on Wednesday, May 14, detail some of the chaotic moments on the vessel as it went into the water early on Aug. 19 amid severe weather off the coast of Sicily.
Six passengers and one crew member were killed and 15 people survived; both U.K. and Italian investigations remain ongoing, with British authorities indicating the weather was to blame.
According to the new report from the investigative board, crew members had been keeping overnight watch as a storm rolled in. Shortly before 4 a.m. local time, a deckhand allegedly even filmed it for a social media post before going to wake the skipper and close the forward hatches and cockpit windows.
But just as the skipper got ready to move the Bayesian into the winds, gusts 'suddenly increased' to more than 80 mph, the report states. 'The awning over the flying bridge ripped from port to starboard' and the yacht began to 'violently' turn over at a 90-degree angle to the right — all in less than 15 seconds.
'People, furniture, and loose items fell across the deck,' the report states. 'The generators shut down immediately and battery-supplied emergency lighting came on.'
Three crew members and two guests, including the owner, 'were all injured, either by falling or from things falling on them,' and the deckhand who had first alerted the skipper to the weather was 'thrown into the sea' from the flying bridge.
Two guests below deck, who had earlier awoken, managed to use their 'furniture drawers as an improvised ladder to exit … escaping along the internal walls of the central alleyway and climbing out into the saloon area.'
Elsewhere, two crew members 'climbed up the walls of the forward staircase, exiting from the crew mess area into the wheelhouse.'
Once the Bayesian's starboard railing touched the sea, water rushed inside and down the stairs, the report states.
The yacht's chief engineer managed to get out from a wheelhouse door while assisting another deckhand, who likewise then helped lift out two other crew members onto the deck.
The Bayesian's owner — previously identified in news reports as Angela Bacares, wife of U.K. tech mogul Mike Lynch, who was with her and their daughter, Hannah — was 'pushed through … cascading water' and onto the flying bridge by the chief officer.
Together with the chief steward, the chief officer 'managed to evacuate' another guest and the guest's baby as well. (Passenger Charlotte Golunski has spoken out about how she worked to save her 1-year-old during the tragedy.)
From there, guests and crew began to gather in larger groups as they fled the sinking ship, according to investigators.
But there were close calls: Two crew members had helped bring two guests onto the flying bridge, along with a third guest and the chief officer and skipper — but then three of the crew in that group became stuck 'in an air pocket' by a wheelhouse door that had closed.
Only with the help of one of the guests on the outside were most of them able to 'open the door and escape,' the report states — however, the chief officer 'had been swept to the back of the saloon and into another air pocket' and had to dive down in order to get the sliding doors on the yacht open in order to swim free.
Outside, as the winds died down, the surviving crew and passengers reunited.
A deckhand who had earlier been saved by a guest made a tourniquet for the guest's arm gash, the report states. That guest was a member of a couple who were on board with their baby who relied on a cushion for floatation.
Some of the passengers and crew treaded water; others held to cushions from the yacht. A guest used their phone light to sweep the water for other signs of life.
Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Then the chief officer released a life raft from the vessel and the survivors boarded it while the skipper began to shout and sound an alarm to a nearby ship. Within about 20 minutes of boarding the raft, the survivors managed to flag down the other yacht with a flare and the survivors made it to the second ship 10 minutes after that.
It had been less than an hour since the storm whipped up.
Read the original article on People