Deep seas and tight spaces impede search for 6 missing after yacht sinks off Sicily

Associated Press

PORTICELLO, Sicily (AP) — Police divers have resumed searching for six people believed trapped in the hull of a superyacht that sank off Sicily. They include British tech magnate Mike Lynch, who was celebrating his recent acquittal on fraud charges with the people who had defended him at trial. The luxury sailboat, off Porticello near Palermo, is some 50 meters underwater. That depth requires special precautions and rescue crews said they were working in 12-minute shifts. The Bayesian is a 56-meter yacht that was moored about a kilometer offshore when a storm rolled in early Monday. Civil protection officials said they believed the ship was struck by a tornado over the water, known as a waterspout. Fifteen of the 22 people aboard survived.