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Tornado that sank superyacht off Sicily coast was 'black swan event', says maritime expert
20 August 2024, 12:20
The tornado or 'water spout' that hit a superyacht off the Sicilian coast is a rare 'black swan event', maritime expert Matthew Schanck has said.
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The luxury yacht - named Bayesian - was hit by a tornado off the coast of Palermo on Monday at about 5am local time.
One person has died and a total of six tourists are still missing after the vessel was battered during intense storms.
Tornadoes that form over water, like the one that hit Bayesian, are called waterspouts. The meteorological phenomenon creates fierce winds affecting a localised area.
“Waterspouts are rare but do happen," Michael Schanck, the chairman of the Maritime Search and Rescue Council, told LBC.
"They’re a black swan event for ship captains and crews. They’re high impact. If the tons of water in the spout drop on a vessel, it will cause a lot of damage."
Read more: City veteran and Morgan Stanley chairman among missing in Sicily yacht incident
Mr Schanck said that nothing jumped out to him in the weather forecast to suggest a bad decision from the captain.
"High masts and equipment above deck" make superyachts vulnerable to winds that "make the vessel keel or list," he explained.
It comes after the ship's captain, James Calfield, 51, spoke out from hospital - where he revealed he had no idea the tornado was coming towards the ship.
Searches are ongoing for the missing passengers, with divers seen loading a rescue dinghy at the port of Porticello on Tuesday morning.
Four of the people missing are British and two are American.
Among them is tech tycoon Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah.
Morgan Stanley International Bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer and Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo are also unaccounted for.
Search for missing tech magnate to resume after superyacht sinks near Sicily
Mr Lynch, who founded software giant Autonomy in 1996, was cleared in June of conducting a massive fraud relating to an 11 billion US dollar (£8.64 billion) sale to US company Hewlett Packard.
It has since been revealed the trip was intended to be a 'victory' celebration.
His co-defendant, Stephen Chamberlain, died after being hit by a car while out running in Cambridgeshire on Saturday.
The British-flagged Bayesian is now resting on the seabed at a depth of 50 metres.
