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A PAIR of young hostesses who survived the Bayesian sinking have told of the terror of being ensnared by the fierce storm.
South Africans Leah Randall, 20, and Katja Chicken, 22, are staying at a Sicily hotel alongside other survivors while the desperate search for the missing six continues off the coast.
Survivor Leah Randall leaves the Coast Guard HeadquartersREUTERS/Igor Petyx
Leah looked visibly distressed as she came to terms with the freak incident REUTERS/Igor Petyx
Katja Chicken also remained in shockReuters
Divers take to the waters in a desperate bid to find missing bodiesVigili del Fuoco/AFP via Getty Images
The Bayesian standing proudly before it sank
CCTV captured the luxury yacht getting lashed by the stormIPA / SplashNews.com
According to local newspaper Giornale di Sicilia, both of them remained in shock days following the superyacht sinking.
They were spotted in the hall of the Domina Zagarella hotel in Santa Flavia, which has also become a makeshift headquarters for police and rescue crew.
The hostesses are quoted as saying: “We are alive by a miracle.”
Their trembling voices were accompanied by tears, seemingly unable to elaborate further amid their ongoing distress.
One of them then heads to the bathroom to wipe away tears, the local paper says.
She adds: “It was terrible.”
The survivors don’t appear to have given the paper more details of their rescue.
Leah’s mum Heidi told Sky News she was “beyond relieved” to hear her “daughter’s life was spared by the grace of God”.
She added: “It doesn’t make it any easier living with the heartache of those who have lost their lives (or are) missing.
“My very deepest condolences to the chef’s family as they formed a great friendship.”
The Bayesian sank in Porticello after a freakish storm battered the boat.
It’s believed to have capsized when it was struck by a tornado over the water – known as a waterspout.
Fifteen people clung on to a lifeboat to escape the terror, but six are still missing while another, a chef, was tragically found dead.
Among those at large is tech tycoon Mike Lynch, referred to as Britain’s Bill Gates, and his daughter Hannah.
Mike’s wife Angela is also staying at the hotel and said to be locked in a state of shock as she awaits news of her missing husband and their daughter.
Italian authorities are probing whether hatches were left open by crew members, which could’ve led to the yacht sinking at speed as it filled with water.
Given the forecast for bad weather, it’s unclear whether proper safety precautions were taken.
Survivors are expected to be interviewed by investigators, who will also ask divers and rescue crew for evidence.
It comes as…
- ‘UK’s Bill Gates’ Mike Lynch & his daughter Hannah, 18, remain missing on the wreck
- Also missing are Jonathan Bloomer, Judy Bloomer, Chris Morvillo and Neda Morvillo
- Lynch’s wife revealed how she was awoken by a ’tilt’ as the yacht sunk
- The captain of the Bayesian broke his silence on the horror storm
- Experts believe the yacht’s ‘tallest mast in the world‘ may have contributed to the disaster
- Pictures showed the tiny raft that saved up to 15 people
- Frantic text messages from the survivors revealed the chaos
Luca Mercalli, president of the Italian Meteorological Society, said that in light of the weather warnings the crew should have woken the guests and given them life jackets.
The yacht was swallowed by the sea in minutes and the wreck now lies 50 metres below the surface.
Powerful water pressure at such depth means divers can only scour the debris for short 12-minute intervals before having to rise back up.
The search is in its third day as hopes of a miraculous rescue mission begin to dwindle.
An engineer has claimed there is a chance some of the missing passengers could be alive in air pockets, but a race against the clock to locate them is proving challenging.
Divers had to force their way through a 3cm-thick porthole in one area, while other pathways are blocked by floating debris.
An underwater robot has been deployed to survey the wreck because it can last longer than human divers.
Who are the six still missing from the Bayesian yacht tragedy?
By Ellie Doughty, Foreign News Reporter
THE BAYESIAN superyacht was hosting a lavish party for 12 guests, with 10 crew also onboard.
After 15 people were rescued from the water on Monday, six people remain missing and one has been found dead.
Italian authorities said the man recovered near the yacht wreckage was the chef working onboard.
Four of the missing are British and two are American.
Mike Lynch, 59, and his daughter Hannah, 18, are among the four Brits lost at sea.
International chairman of bank giant Morgan Stanley, Brit Jonathan Bloomer, 70, is also missing along with his wife Judy.
As is top New York lawyer Chris Morvillo, a solicitor at major firm Clifford Chance who worked for Mike Lynch, and his wife Neda.
Skipper James Cutfield, 51, spoke from hospital and said he had no idea the tornado was coming towards the ship.
Cutfield, from New Zealand, had captained luxury yachts for eight years and had previously worked on building them for 30 years.
He told La Repubblica: “We didn’t see it coming.”
Meanwhile Cutfield’s brother Mark told the NZ Herald his brother was a “very good sailor”.
And he added he was “very well respected” in the Mediterranean.
Mark said the skipper is still recovering in hospital, but managed to escape with injuries that were not “too dramatic”.
Those on board said the mast collapsed in stormy weather, causing glass to shatter everywhere and the boat to capsize.
Witnesses said a 12-minute waterspout had struck the boat, bringing a furious vortex against the vessel.
Who is Mike Lynch?
By Georgie English, Foreign News Reporter
ENTREPRENEUR Mike Lynch is still believed to be missing hours after a £14m luxury yacht capsized in a tornado off the coast of Sicily.
The tech tycoon, dubbed “Britain’s Bill Gates”, was one of the 22 people sailing onboard the £166,000 a week vessel, the Telegraph reported this afternoon.
Lynch, 59, sold Autonomy Corporation – a tech company for $11b to Hewlett-Packard in 2011.
He has also been involved in Invoke Capital and cybersecurity company Darktrace.
He was awarded an OBE for his services to enterprise in 2006.
Born in Ilford, Lynch had a firefighter father from County Cork and a nurse mother from County Tipperary.
Away from work, Mike is married to wife Angela Bacares and the pair have two children together.
In 2023, the Sunday Times rich list set the couple’s value at £852m.
Just weeks ago, Lynch was acquitted of criminal charges by a jury in San Francisco after a 12-year legal battle over the $11bn sale of his firm, Autonomy, to Hewlett-Packard in 2011.
He was extradited to the US on fraud charges back in 2023 with a judge setting his bail at £79m.
US Marshsals took Lynch into custody at Heathrow, putting him in chains and bundling him on board a United Airlines flight.
However, he had a few things in his favour.
The nature of the case led to a boring and turgid trial, including painstaking parades of emails, reports and spreadsheets filled with jargon, leaving jurors glassy-eyed.
One was even dismissed because he repeatedly fell asleep.
Lynch argued that any questionable activity was entirely immaterial in the context of a thriving business bringing in hundreds of millions a year.
While his lawyers claimed the books were approved by outside accountants and that, by British standards, the deals in question were appropriately accounted for.
Lynch was used as the final witness and rather than going “right for the jugular”, as his head lawyer Brian Heberlig said, the prosecutors simply “reviewed a chronology of documents, with no probing questions”.
The jury agreed.
The body of Recaldo Thomas, a Canadian-Antiguan chef, has been recovered
Rescue workers and divers continue the search operation into the nightEPA/IGOR PETYX
Search teams race the clock to find anyone trapped in the wreckEPA/IGOR PETYX
English (US)