Dramatic video

Sicily: Mega sailing yacht sank in just 60 seconds

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/x.com/TrueCrimeUpdat, APA/AFP/BAIA Santa Nicolicchia/Fabio la Bianca)

Many questions remain unanswered following the sinking of the mega sailing yacht Bayesian off the coast of Sicily. One of them: How could the 56-metre-long ship sink so quickly? A video from a surveillance camera shows that the yacht was swallowed up by the sea in just 60 seconds. 

A severe storm hit Sicily on Monday morning - the Bayesian, which was anchored half a nautical mile off the coast, is said to have been hit by a waterspout. Eyewitnesses reported that the 75-meter-high mast broke. Of the 22 people on board, 15 were pulled out of the water alive, but only one body has been recovered so far

Video shows: "Nothing could be done for the boat"
A video from a villa's surveillance camera recorded the last moments of the luxury ship. It is astonishing how quickly the floating colossus became a victim of the sea.

The Bayesian before it sank (left) and during the fatal storm (right)

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/x.com/TrueCrimeUpdat, APA/AFP/BAIA Santa Nicolicchia/Fabio la Bianca)

"In just sixty seconds you can see the ship disappear. Of the twenty or so cameras installed in the house, only one was not disturbed by wind and rain. You can clearly see what is happening. Nothing could be done for the boat. It disappeared in a very short time," the owner of the property told Italian media. 

Hull intact - how did water get into the ship?
Another observation is puzzling: "The indications we are receiving from the divers show that the ship is lying intact on its side at the bottom," Matthew Schanck, chairman of the Maritime Search and Rescue Council, told the BBC. How could so much water enter the ship without a leak in the hull?

The high temperatures could have contributed to the accident, suspects Sam Jefferson from the magazine "Sailing Today". The day before the ship sank, temperatures would have been over 30 degrees - so the passengers had probably opened the windows during the night to let in cooler air.

Water could have entered through open hatches and doors
"I assume that the boat was hit very hard by the wind, so that it was pushed onto its side," said Jefferson. "Because the hatches and doors were open, the ship filled with water very quickly and sank." The huge mast (the tallest aluminum mast in the world) may have prevented the boat from righting itself quickly, leading to the water ingress. "It's all speculation, but that's the only logical explanation," says the editor.

Meanwhile, the search for the missing six people continues. A three-centimeter-thick pane was opened from the outside so that divers could get into the ship. The tools were specially made for this purpose. However, the emergency services have not yet been able to enter the cabins: Numerous obstacles block the way, and the narrow spaces pose an additional problem. So far, divers have only been able to search a few rooms below the bridge. The ship lies at a depth of 50 meters, which poses additional challenges for the divers.

The British technology entrepreneur Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah are missing. The President of Morgan Stanley International, Jonathan Bloomer, as well as the CEO of Lynch's company, Chris Morvillo, and his wife Nada have also not yet been recovered. Only the body of the on-board chef has been found so far.