Mum of rescued Brit baby on doomed £14m superyacht reveals how they woke up in sea & daughter was nearly lost to waves

A BRAVE mum who rescued her one-year-old baby from the sinking £14million superyacht in Sicily has described how she nearly lost her daughter to the waves.

Brit tourist Charlotte, 35, was onboard the doomed Bayesian yacht when she was woken up by floods of water after the boat overturned when it was hit by a tornado.

One sailor photographed the doomed Bayesian vessel only hours before it sank

Emergency responders have been looking for the remaining missing tourists since this morning

Search helicopters were seen flying over the sea earlier today

Charlotte managed to grab hold of her child as the pair were forced into the Mediterranean as they battled against the rough weather and choppy waters.

The father was also onboard at the time of the horror ordeal.

The mother told la Repubblica: “I held her afloat with all my strength, my arms stretched upwards to keep her from drowning. 

“It was all dark. In the water I couldn’t keep my eyes open.

“I screamed for help but all I could hear around me was the screams of others.” 

At one point the mother feared she had lost her daughter to the unforgiving sea.

She told Giornale di Sicilia: “For two seconds I lost the baby in the sea, then I immediately hugged her again amidst the fury of the waves.”

After a few seconds, emergency lifeboats were quickly set up by the remaining survivors crew.

Charlotte managed to swim over to one of the rafts where she and her daughter were taken to safety along with 11 others.

The daughter was rushed to the Giovanni Di Cristina children’s hospital, in Palermo, where she was checked over by doctors.

Dr Domenico Cipolla, head of the emergency room at the paediatric hospital spoke to Charlotte afterwards.

DrCipolla said:“She told me that while they were sleeping, at a certain point the yacht overturned due to the tornado, and they found themselves in the water. 

“They are all in good condition. We managed to get the parents to talk on the phone, all the doctors and nurses were all very moved.

“The little girl is fine, the prognosis is good and we are carrying out tests just to be careful.”

At least 15 people were saved by coast guards, patrol boats, firefighters and local fishermen.

Seven other survivors are still in hospital receiving treatment.

Four British tourists are still feared dead after the superyacht was hit by a tornado early on Monday morning.

The lifeless body of one victim who was sailing onboard the doomed Bayesian yacht has already been pulled from the Mediterranean.

One of the Brits is reportedly tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch.

Lynch, a billionaire, was one of the 22 people sailing onboard the vessel, the Telegraph reported this afternoon.

Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, is among those rescued.

Three other Brits, two Americans, and one Canadian are among the remaining six missing.

The yacht is believed to have been flooded by water after a tornado off the coast of Porticello, near Palermo, just before 5am local time on Monday morning.

Helicopters, divers, patrol boats and firefighters are all helping with the desperate search of the wreckage.

A man’s body was tragically found underwater alongside the shipwreck by divers, reports Corriere Della Sera.

Most of those missing were passengers on the £166,000 a week charter.

The ship’s charterers said there were 12 guests and 10 crew sailing at the time.

Sicily has been hit with violent winds and rain this week

Teams of divers found the wreckage and discovered a body earlier today