Sinking of Yacht off Sicilian Coast

[Cesarina]

This is of course an absolutely tragic event.
I'm feeling a bit mean by saying this.........but why is it the headline topic on BBC news?
I genuinely feel sorry for those involved, but don't understand why it's the dominant news story?

I think it’s very unfair to start making judgements like that about people’s behaviour when we have no idea what happened. The information will come out in time - and you can rest assured, the designers and builders of the yacht will be leaving no stone unturned in their efforts to prove it was the crew not the yacht that was at fault.

thank you. I am leaving room for capacity and not wanting to risk those lives too. really tough for all.

human error seems to be what sunk the boat- unfortunately, which is unfortunate and sad.

I can understand the Captain saying the water spout came out of nowhere but the bad weather didn't that is my point, they knew about it as, as you rightly say, all hands were on deck. I still hold the belief that adequate precautions were not taken for the bad weather irrespective of the water spout.

I'll take your point about yachts being on their side, seems unusual to me as most boat/shipwrecks are pictured sitting upright on the sea bed but I will accept your greater knowledge on that point.

I asked a question like others are doing. I have received very good answers. thank you.

Almost one of the questions though is how on earth the mother and baby both survived. That in itself feels like a miracle. The water would have been cold and rough. It’s hard enough keeping yourself alive in those circumstances. They were incredibly lucky.

yes, also from her description it sounds like she was separated from the baby in the water for a moment before she found it again, which is astonishing.
Can it have been that cold though? Even in a storm, it’s the Med in August not the North Atlantic in April.

The water wasn't cold - warm water is a driver of waterspouts forming

It is reported the yacht sunk in 2 minutes, which despite all the claims flying around I’ve not seen disputed. This Sky News article shows the yacht in scale to a double decker bus. Now, if you’ve ever been on a double decker and the bus driver has left before you’ve sat down, it can easily take you a clumsy minute to get on the top deck and take a seat. Look at how much bigger the yacht is than a bus so it’s simply going to take longer to get around it. Now throw in rough seas, just being woken from your sleep because it’s 4am, being disorientated by an unfamiliar place and the abrupt waking, the yacht not being upright, the chaos of water coming in, people screaming, the darkness and I think it’s a wonder anyone escaped. I think suggesting the Captain said sod it to the guests on the boat is so disrespectful. How about recognising the captain managed to save most of his crew and half the guests in the two minutes the boat took to sink? Maybe the actions of him and his crew could have made this an avoidable event and an investigation will determine that but in the moment of peril, he’s saved those people. He saved who he could and now he has to live with those he couldn’t save.

Er, I really didn’t come here to argue!

are suggestions from the off and on many places that the boat sunk (and therefore lives lost with it) due to human error also disrespectful to whoever? Jeez

@WhereIsMyLight the only person I have seen saying it was impossible for it to have sunk in 2 mins and it must have taken six is the CEO of Italian Sea Group, who... isn't a neutral party.

Yes, I am slowly picking up things being said by ‘experts’ etc etc as part of early defences.
so my filters are now on and will be checking the sources more closely!

Insurers are notorious for not wanting to pay up- it will be interesting to watch the end of this, maybe after 2 years or more. (Although I have no expertise in yatch/ shipping insurance industry but it is a very well litigated industry in U.K. because of the English Channel- so the correct answer will be found!)

lynch wife being quiet is honourable! She is the legal owner afterall!

"human error seems to be what sunk the boat- unfortunately, which is unfortunate and sad."

@Sharingsomewisdom this is not known yet and won't be for a while.

I am sure that Mike Lynch's wife is honourable (strange adjective) but she will be in mourning for her husband and daughter, and comforting their other daughter.

I think it’s pretty much a given in aircraft accident investigation that eye witness accounts can be highly inaccurate/inconsistent (and sure as heck are by the time they get translated by the MSM) and certainly perceptions of timescales can wildly differ ..I can’t see why that won’t apply here.

Assuming there is no equivalent of a flight recorder on board (that’s a question for those in the know) I’d speculate data coming from CCTV and possibly personal devices (phones, tablets), plus examination of the wreckage may lead to the best picture of what went on.

It’s going to be interesting to see how the Italian investigators approach this - if the survivors sense there is significant legal jeopardy in giving candid testimony that might not help matters.

Liferafts have multiple means of inflation, most have both a pull chord and a depth mechanism.

There will have been multiple liferafts stationed around the deck. On top of this tenders are also set up to be able to use in an emergency. The crew are legally required to demonstrate that all life saving aids can be deployed and safely used in a specific time. These are governed by many regulations and are subject to regular inspection.

I can't help thinking you shouldn't be accusing the crew of saving themselves.

I think that the UK MIAB will be investigating as it is a British flagged boat. They apparently have a very good reputation and are meant to be very thorough.

@Sharingsomewisdom forget everyone else not around and set off'
Please stop your incredibly insulting rumour mongering. You must clearly be judging others on how you would act.

MAIB

Good observation.

Good observation re length, room positions and where lifecraft was.

I have no idea.

But my ds is a swimmer. Every time I hear the length of the boat is 54m I envisage him training and the size of the pool.

That's some huge area to navigate in a tornado, in the middle of the night, in the dark. At some point the electrics would have failed due to taking on water.

It's terrifying. My heart just goes out to everyone on board and their families.

The water is about 32C pretty warm, definitely warm enough to survive hours rather than minutes.

It's possible mother and baby had already woken up and even come up to the saloon deck making it quicker and simpler to exit the vessel. Wind and rain can actually flatten water in some circumstances.

Yep they are, be interesting to see if they are the lead agency.

Sorry to hark back to aviation but there are lots of parallels due history - in that arena a crash of a UK registered aircraft in the States would be investigated by the US Feds (NTSB leading with major UK input from the likes of the AAIB) and sanctions under US law would be a possibility.

How will this investigation work?

If you haven't spent much time at sea you really wouldn't get how quickly things can develop and once they do how completely random they can be.

Sailing yachts have deep keels, even ones with retractable keels. The ships you've probably seen in photographs don't.

@Daftasabroom mother and baby were sleeping on the deck (this was said by the doctor who treated them) - perhaps cos baby was restless in the cabin or just because it was nice and warm and a fun thing to do.