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James Bond-Themed Superyacht Called '007' Sinks Within Yards of Greek Beach

"In trying not to be sunk, he sailed closer to shore," a boat owner who watched the event unfold said of the captain's actions

Five passengers aboard a superyacht named in honor of British superspy James Bond had to be rescued after it capsized and began sinking yards away from a Greek beach Friday.

The 160-foot superyacht named "007" experienced a GPS malfunction around 50 feet from the beaches of Kolona Bay on the Mediterranean island of Kythnos, SWNS reported.

"They say that the captain had some depth problem and he hit the bottom," a boat owner said about the vessel's captain, per SWNS

"In trying not to be sunk, he sailed closer to shore, in less than 10 meters depth — and that's how the ship got to that position." Thankfully, nobody was hurt in the incident, added SWNS.

"The coastguard was immediately aware and sent help in the night," the local continued, per SWNS.

"Next morning they put an antipollution perimeter," the boat owner continued. "It appears there was no diesel leakage or damage to the scenery."

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According to SuperYacht Times , the "007" was developed by Aegean Yachts in 2006 and can accommodate up to 10 people. It also has a steel hull and aluminum superstructure.

In true James Bond style, however, the identity of the owner has not been revealed.

The sinking of the 007 follows the demise of a 131-foot superyacht named My Saga, which capsized nine miles off the coast of Catanzaro, Italy in August.

Shocking footage released by the Italian coast guard showed the vessel sinking stern-first near the Catanzaro Marina.

According to the BBC , "the Italian coast guard rescued all nine people on board – four passengers and five crew. The outlet reported the ship was heading from Gallipoli to Milazzo.

An investigation of the incident is ongoing and it is still unclear what caused the yacht to sink.

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A superyacht named 007 has sunk after running aground off an island on Friday.

The 49-metre long vessel hit rocks off the Greek island of Kythnos and was seen lying on its side in the sea after the five passengers on board were rescued.

The James Bond-themed luxury yacht, which has a helipad, was seen lying semi-submerged about 15 metres from Kolona Beach, The Sun reports.

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The boat hit rocks around 11pm on Friday and water then poured in as rescuers scrambled to get passenger on to another vessel and ashore.

The GPS reportedly malfunctioned and according to a local boat owner, the skipper then brought the vessel closer to shore.

“In trying not to be sunk, he sailed closer to shore, in less than ten metres depth, and that’s how the ship got to that position,” he said.

“No people were hurt. The coastguard was immediately aware and sent help in the night. Next morning they put up an anti-pollution perimeter.

“It appears there was no diesel leakage or damage to the scenery.”

The boat sails under a British flag but is owned by a Swiss businessman.

Anti-pollution barriers have been put in place in case of fuel leakage.

Local authorities will now conduct an investigation into the incident.

The 007 was delivered in 2006 by Bodrum-based shipyard Aegean Yacht but who owns it remains a mystery.

It has five cabins, including a master suite, and can sleep ten people.

The vessel was originally 32 metre long and called Royal Enterprise but underwent an extension.

It comes after the 39-metre superyacht My Saga sank off the coast of Italy after it was battered by a storm.

Nine people were rescued from the submerging vessel on Saturday as it sunk in the Gulf of Squillace, off the coast of Catanzaro.

Dramatic footage shows the superyacht on the water for a few moments before it completely sinks stern-first.

An investigation to determine what caused the vessel to sink has been launched.

More Coverage

According to the Super Yacht Times , My Saga was travelling from Gallipoli, Turkey to Milazzo in Italy under a Cayman Islands flag.

Four passengers and five crew were all rescued before it sunk.

This article originally appeared on The Sun and was republished with permission

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Search Resumes for British Mogul and 5 Others After Yacht Sinks Off Sicily

The body of the vessel’s cook was recovered while divers searched the hull of the Bayesian for passengers, including the tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch.

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By Elisabetta Povoledo

Deep-sea divers with Italy’s firefighter corps resumed their search on Tuesday for six missing passengers — including a British software mogul and his daughter — of a yacht that sank off the coast of Sicily the previous day.

Twenty-two people were on board the 180-foot British-flagged sailing yacht, the Bayesian, which was anchored near the port of Porticello, when it was hit by what witnesses described as a waterspout, a small tornado on water, during a sudden and violent storm.

Fifteen people who managed to get to a raft were rescued by the captain of a nearby sailing cruise ship. The body of the yacht’s cook, identified by news outlets as Recaldo Thomas, a Canadian Antiguan, was recovered on Monday. But several people are still unaccounted for, according to Salvatore Cocina, an official with Sicily’s civil protection agency.

Those still missing are Mike Lynch, a British technology entrepreneur; his daughter Hannah; Jonathan Bloomer, chairman of Morgan Stanley International; his wife, Judy Bloomer; Christopher J. Morvillo, a lawyer at Clifford Chance; and his wife, Neda Morvillo.

Mr. Lynch was acquitted of fraud in a U.S. trial in June, ending a high-profile, decadelong legal battle against accusations that he had defrauded Hewlett-Packard when he sold his company, Autonomy, to Hewlett for $11 billion.

Mr. Lynch and the others went missing days after Mr. Lynch’s co-defendant at the fraud trial, Stephen Chamberlain, a former vice president of finance at Autonomy, was fatally struck by a car on Saturday while out for a run, his lawyer, Gary S. Lincenberg, said in a statement.

Prosecutors in the Italian city of Termini Imerese, east of where the yacht sank, are opening a formal investigation into the yacht’s sinking. Reached by telephone, the chief prosecutor declined to comment.

The search for the missing passengers began on Monday but was suspended late that night as crews found themselves limited to the bridge deck and items like furnishings “obstructing passage,” the firefighters’ corps wrote on social media .

When divers resumed the search on Tuesday, ships trawled the waters near the site, the corps said in a statement. The Italian Coast Guard also said in a statement that search operations were “continuing unabated,” with the deployment of helicopters. There was no evidence that gasoline was leaking from the yacht, the Coast Guard said.

The yacht was lying on its right side in about 165 feet of water, meaning that divers, working in pairs, could stay underwater for only about 12 minutes at a time, said Luca Cari, a spokesman for the firefighters’ corps.

Divers were seeking a safe point of access to the vessel’s cabins. “Obviously, everything fell and the space is very tight,” Mr. Cari said, adding that the divers were having to remove obstacles, like furnishings and electrical wiring, that were “completely blocking passages.”

The firefighters’ corps said in a statement that it was impossible to verify whether people were inside the hull.

Mr. Cari said that several divers had been part of the search-and-rescue operations when the Costa Concordia, a cruise liner, capsized off the Tuscan island of Giglio in 2012, killing 32 people. It is considered one of the worst maritime disasters in modern Italian history.

“It’s like the Costa Concordia, but much smaller,” Mr. Cari said in a telephone interview, comparing the search operations. “In the Costa Concordia, we came across many obstacles but we somehow were able to overcome them. Here, the obstacles block the passages and have to be removed.” He added, “This makes it more difficult.”

Crews were also trying to raise the yacht, which experts will examine to try to determine why it sank. Until then, experts can only hypothesize what happened.

Karsten Borner, the captain of a ship, the Sir Robert Baden Powell, which picked up the Bayesian’s 15 survivors, said in an interview that when the wind picked up around 4 a.m. Monday, the Bayesian was about 490 feet behind his vessel. Once the wind wound down, he said, he could not see the yacht anymore.

“My theory was that she was capsized first and then went down over the stern,” Mr. Borner said.

Dario Boote, a ship structures and naval architecture professor at the University of Genoa, said: “Now I imagine that a whole series of lawsuits will be triggered, obviously to ascertain whether there is any responsibility, as always happens very unpleasantly in these situations.” He said, however, that in this case, responsibility might be hard to determine. “Clearly, only once the wreck is raised will we know more,” he added.

Several fishermen told Italian news outlets that they had witnessed a waterspout. Peter Inness, a meteorologist at the University of Reading, said they were relatively common in the Mediterranean, though their occurrence and intensity are unpredictable.

“Until one actually forms, you can’t start telling people where it is,” Mr. Inness said, or “how to get out of the way.”

The inclement weather — with lightning intermittently streaking through the sky — made it hard to know exactly why the yacht sank. Col. Attilio Di Diodato, director of the Italian Air Force’s Center for Aerospace Meteorology and Climatology, said the agency had registered intense lightning activity and strong gusts of wind in the area at the time the boat sank.

The Bayesian had one of the tallest aluminum masts in the world, according to its builder, Perini Navi. “Having a tall aluminum mast would not make it the safest port to be in case of a storm,” said Andrea Ratti, associate professor of nautical design and architecture technology the Politecnico di Milano. The type of intensity unleashed by a violent lightning storm “could have created a significant shock wave,” he added.

He, too, cautioned that “a lot of questions will remain until we have other elements at our disposal.”

Modern yachts are built to withstand meteorological events of reasonable intensity, and all international naval registers suggest that new ships be designed for higher waves and more frequent and extreme weather events.

But “this seems a case of an unreasonable extreme event,” said Emilio Fortunato Campana, an expert in Naval Hydrodynamics at Italy’s National Research Council. “In that case, no ship is 100 percent safe,” he added. “I think the Titanic showed that nothing is unsinkable.”

Elisabetta Povoledo is a reporter based in Rome, covering Italy, the Vatican and the culture of the region. She has been a journalist for 35 years. More about Elisabetta Povoledo

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You could say that 2022 has not been a good year for superyachts in general, and you wouldn’t be completely off the mark. In between seizures and legal complications, and what seems like an increased number of totaling incidents, superyacht-watching has definitely gotten more… dramatic this past year.

We can now add another incident to that ever-growing list: 007, a superyacht delivered by Aegean Yachts in 2006, has sunk after running aground off the coast of Greece. It happened on Friday night (September 2), with reports in the local  media  saying that the captain hit rocks under the surface of the water.

The ship is now almost completely submerged in Kolona Bay in Kythnos, in the Cyclades island chain in Greece, only some 15 meters (49.2 feet) from the beach. The Greek Coast Guard has confirmed the incident but, for the time being, it can’t speak on the circumstances surrounding it – and for very good reason, since an investigation into the cause is still underway.

The good news is that the five people onboard the vessel were rescued by the Coast Guard and transported to safety. The other piece of good news is that Coast Guard personnel was able to contain the superyacht with a floating sea wall, and there have been no reports of pollution as of the time of press. Given the location of the wreck, it is very likely that a recovery operation will be attempted.

The captain called in for help after running aground, as the ship started taking on water. Shortly afterwards, 007 listed on the port side, and eventually capsized. Photos and videos have emerged on social media showing the extent of the damage, and you will find some of them included in this article.

007 is a 49-meter (160-foot) superyacht that wasn’t available for charter, but was often described as the perfect family boat. Initially delivered as a 32-meter (105-footer) under the name Royal Enterprise, at the Bodrum shipyard in Turkey, it’s been through several refits, which have contributed to its current explorer-like, more aggressive silhouette. These refits included a lengthening of the hull to 49 meters (160 feet), adding another deck, and a small touch-and-go helipad on top.

With a design by Yavuz Mete, 007 offered accommodation for 10 guests and 5 crew. Powered by twin Caterpillar engines that developed a total of 1,300 hp, it could travel at a top speed of 12 knots (13.8 mph / 22.2 kph). None of that matters now, as it’s come to what could possibly be its end on the rocky shore of Greece.

• Superyacht 007
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BY APB Staff on 6 Sep 2022

The yacht capsized on Friday, although it remains unclear how the 49-metre vessel ran aground

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/dEVXMP78xoU

Superyacht 007  has sunk off the coast of Greece, according to the local coast guard. Footage has been circulating on social media throughout the weekend of the stricken yacht, which is lying on its side in shallow waters off Kolona Bay in Kythnos.

The 49-metre vessel ran aground on Friday evening and reportedly took on water before capsizing. Reports say 007 is currently semi-submerged and awaiting recovery around 15 metres off the coast. The coast guard says that five passengers were rescued, and there are no reported injuries. Search and rescue teams have installed a boom around the yacht to prevent pollution from spreading around the local environment.  

The yacht 007 capsized on Friday evening. Image: Cyclades24

In a statement, the Hellenic Coast Guard says: “In the evening hours of Friday, the Port Authority of Kythnos was informed by the Unified Center for Coordination of Search and Rescue LS-EL.AKT. that the yacht 007 of the flag of Great Britain has run aground in the sea area of Kolona Bay, Kythnos with five foreign passengers.

The E/P vessel DELTA II T. Saronicou 4760 rushed to the area with a member of the relevant Port Authority on board, where it located the above semi-submerged T/C, at a distance of approximately 15 meters from the western side of the sandy beach of Kolona Bay. The passengers, all in good health, transferred to the auxiliary boat and were then transferred to the port of Merichas in Kythnos.”

Superyacht 007 runs aground in Kynthos, Greece https://t.co/MJuMZCDt79 #greece #greek #greekcitytimes pic.twitter.com/fe9KOWQVfq — Greek City Times (@greekcitytimes) September 3, 2022

There are some conflicting reports about how the yacht ran aground in the first place. An analysis by eSysman suggests that the captain may have chosen to ground the vessel after it hit rocks, to prevent it from sinking under the water. Meanwhile, Greek outlet Cyclades24 suggests that the GPS failed, leading the boat to run aground in the shallows before breaching and taking on water. 

A towing company is now on the scene in Kythnos, and is establishing how to safely remove the superyacht from the scene. 

007 was launched as Amazon A by Turkish shipyard Aegean Yacht , in 2006. The vessel was originally 32m long but has been extended to 49m in a series of modifications, which included an extra deck and helipad. 

In August, superyacht M/Y Saga sank off the coast of northern Italy , after the crew reported the vessel taking on water at the stern.

Dramatic footage of the scene shared by the  coast guard shows the 39.4-metre superyacht tilting heavily to starboard, as the waves crash against the decks. And, in June, a Custom Line Navetta 26 superyacht sank off the coast of Seferihisar, in western Turkey, after taking on water.

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No, Mr Bond, I expect you to bye-bye: Superyacht named 007 that SANK after running aground off Greek beach sets sail after millionaire owner who ABANDONED it was threatened with mega fines

• The vessel was deserted off the coast of Greece last year after it capsized
• Greek authorities told the owner they had one month to resolve the situation

By Christian Oliver

Published: 10:59 EDT, 21 March 2023 | Updated: 11:16 EDT, 21 March 2023

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A 160ft James Bond-themed superyacht named 007 has set sail once more just months after it sank and was left abandoned by its millionaire owner.

The vessel - thought to be owned by a Swiss businessman but had been sailing under a British flag - was deserted off the coast of Greece after it capsized and was overturned. 

Originally left just 49ft (15 metres) from the picturesque Kolona Bay on the island of Kythnos, the superyacht had remained in the water since the incident in September last year.

But after Greek authorities informed the owner, through a bailiff, that they had one month to resolve the situation and remove the boat from the stunning shoreline or face severe fines, the superyacht has been retrieved.

Now, after six months, 007 has been lifted from the sea and is ready to set sail again.

The James Bond-themed superyacht was finally lifted out of the sea on Kolona Bay, a narrow strip of land connecting Kythnos to the islet of Agios Loukas

Left just 49ft (15 metres) from the picturesque Kolona Bay on the island of Kythnos, the superyacht had remained there since the incident in September last year

The mayor of Kythnoi, Stamatis Garderis, who has been working to remove the sunken ship from the paradise, announced the vessel's recovery.

He wrote on Facebook in Greek: 'Ready to set sail. It's a matter of hours before 007 is removed.'

He posted pictures of the superyacht being lifted out of the sea on Kolona beach, a narrow strip of land connecting Kythnos to the islet of Agios Loukas.

The island is not averse to extravagant vessels anchoring on its shoreline as it is a popular destination for yachts and boats.

The boat originally capsized after its GPS malfunctioned. It allegedly  led the boat towards the shore before it started lifting heavily on the port side as water started pouring in.

In the September incident, the coast guard answered mayday calls and the five passengers on board were quickly rescued. The boat started sinking on the Friday evening, and by Saturday, the yacht was fully submerged. 

The boat - fit for a member of His Majesty's secret service - comes with the iconic 007 logo and gun, and its own helipad

The vessel was deserted off the coast of Greece after it capsized and was overturned

The mayor of Kythnoi, Stamatis Garderis, who has been working to remove the sunken ship from the paradise, announced the vessel's recovery

The 007 can accommodate up to 10 passengers and five crew on board. It has a steel hull and aluminium superstructure.

The boat - fit for a member of His Majesty's secret service - comes with the iconic 007 logo and gun, and its own helipad.

The superyacht was developed by Bodrum-based shipyard Aegean Yachts in 2006 and rescuers were able to contain it with a floating sea wall, limiting pollution.

It is the third largest yacht built by Aegean and it was last sold in 2012, according to Superyacht Times.

The vessel has a top speed of 12 knots and has five cabins including a master suite.

Share or comment on this article: 'James Bond' superyacht named 007 that SANK after running aground off Greek beach sets sail again

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Breaking news, all about the $40m bayesian yacht that capsized, leaving 6 dead and 1 still missing.

The massive superyacht Bayesian that sank off the coast of Italy on Monday won numerous awards for its sleek interior design — and was sold to its original owner for nearly $40 million.

The luxury sailing ship was carrying 22 people when it capsized and sank during a fierce storm early Monday.

The bodies of five of six missing passengers, including British tech tycoon Mike Lynch , 69, have been recovered. His daughter, 18-year-old Hannah, is the only one of six known killed in the tragedy yet to be found, a source close to the rescue operation told Reuters.

The ship’s chef, Recaldo Thomas, has also been confirmed dead.

Divers continued searching the wreckage of the 184-foot-long, British-flagged vessel, previously called Salute, on Wednesday after discovering four of the bodies.

When it was built in 2008, the Bayesian had the tallest aluminum mast in the world, standing at 237 feet, earning it the award for best exterior styling at the World Superyacht Awards in 2009, the Telegraph reported.

The sprawling superyacht’s interior, decorated with sleek, minimalist furnishings created by Remi Tessier, has also won numerous awards.

The ship, which accommodated 12 guests, had a master bedroom and three double and two twin bedrooms.

It also featured beige sofas, dark wood furnishings, and a teak deck equipped with a large canvas awning to keep guests cool, according to the outlet.

Some of the ship’s styling, including thin brown pillars and miniature terra cotta sculptures, was inspired by Japanese culture.

What to know after a tornado sank the yacht Bayesian off the coast of Sicily:

• A superyacht capsized off the coast of Sicily after a tornado hit the area early Monday, killing seven passengers.
• British tech tycoon Mike Lynch was identified as one of the bodies pulled from the wreckage. His teenage daughter, Hannah, was the final one to be recovered.
• Lynch — known as “Britain’s Bill Gates” — had invited guests from Clifford Chance, a legal firm that represented him, and Invoke Capital, his own company, on the voyage,  according to the Telegraph . 
• Security camera footage shot from 650 feet from where the  Bayesian sank Monday  shows it disappearing.
• A rare and unexpected “black swan” weather event may have led to the  Bayesian’s speedy demise , maritime experts say.

The extravagant ship won best interior at the International Superyacht Society Awards in 2008 and was also voted one of the best large sailing yachts at the 2009 World Superyacht Awards, according to the outlet.

The yacht’s original owner, John Groenewoud, a Dutch real estate developer, reportedly bought the ship for £30 million ($39 million) when it was built. In 2014, he sold the ship with an asking price of £27 million ($35 million).

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The Bayesian is currently owned by Revtom, a company that listed Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, as its legal owner.

It was named after the Bayesian statistical model that helps financial investors calculate risk — the subject of Lynch’s PhD that later helped him build his empire.

The vessel, operated by yachting company Camper & Nicholsons, had twin 965hp MTU engines, which gave it a range of 3,600 nautical miles at 13 to 15 knots (14 to 17 mph).

RSB Rigging carried out rig service works on the ship with Astilleros de Mallorca, a shipyard facility in Palma, in November 2016.

The Bayesian returned in September 2020 for scheduled service works, including having its mast removed and reinstalled.

Steve Branagh, managing director of RSB Rigging, told the Telegraph: “At this time, our deepest sympathies go out to the friends and families of all those affected by this dreadful tragedy.”

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Captain of doomed yacht that capsized off Italian coast speaks out as desperate search for survivors is carried out

T he captain of the doomed Bayesian superyacht that capsized off the coast of Italy on Monday said the crew and passengers had no idea a tornado was about to rage through the region until their ship sank.

Captain James Catfield, who piloted the 184-foot, British-flagged luxury yacht, was among the 15 crew members and passengers to survive after the tornado struck Monday before sunrise.

“We didn’t see it coming,” Catfield told Italian newspaper La Repubblica from the hospital, where he was limping due to an injury.

One person, believed to be the on-ship chef, died in the wreck and six people remain missing, including British tech tycoon Mike Lynch and top New York City lawyer Christopher Morvillo .

Morvillo’s wife, Neda, a jewelry designer, is also one of the six passengers still missing, officials said. 

In addition to the Morvillos and Lynch, the missing include Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter, Hannah, as well as Jonathan Bloomer, a chairman at Morgan Stanley Internationa l, and Bloomer’s wife, Judy.

Morvillo, 59, helped Lynch, the owner of the capsized luxury boat, win his fraud trial earlier this year.

Lynch had invited guests from the legal firm that represented him, Clifford Chance, and Invoke Capital, his own company, on the voyage, according to the Telegraph . 

The boat left the Sicilian port of Milazzo on Aug. 14 and was last tracked east of Palermo on Sunday evening, according to vessel tracking app Vesselfinder.

Police divers continued their search for the missing passengers Tuesday, focusing on an area some 164 feet underwater, where officials believe people may be trapped.

The search thus far has been slow because the Bayesian sits 50 meters below the surface, where divers can only stay for 12 minutes at a time, fire rescue officials said Tuesday.

Fire officials have said the six people unaccounted for will be referred to as “missing” until they are located in the wreckage. 

With Post wires

One person dead and six missing after superyacht with 22 on board is sunk by tornado off coast of Italy

British tech tycoon Mike Lynch is among those unaccounted for after the ship was battered by a tornado off the coast of Palermo in the early hours of Monday morning.

Tuesday 20 August 2024 16:20, UK

A man has died and six people are missing after a UK-flagged superyacht sank off the coast of Sicily in a tornado - with a prominent British businessman among those unaccounted for.

Technology tycoon Mike Lynch owned the 56-metre vessel (183ft), named Bayesian.

Mr Lynch, known as the "British Bill Gates", has been in the headlines in recent months over a high-profile fraud case.

In June, he was cleared of all charges by a US jury related to the sale of his software company Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard in 2011.

Mr Lynch's 18-year-old daughter Hannah is among those missing after his yacht sank, local media reports.

Follow live updates: People missing after superyacht sinks

Mr Lynch's wife Angela Bacares is confirmed to be among the 15 people who were rescued after the British-flagged yacht capsized at around 4.30am local time (3.30am UK time) on Monday.

One body has also been recovered, after being found close to the vessel, according to local media.

Read more: Everything we know so far about luxury vessel sunk by tornado Lynch's co-defendant dies after being hit by car days before yacht sinking

The boat was hit by a tornado over the water, known as a waterspout, that struck where the yacht had been anchored during the storm.

Police divers have been trying to reach the hull of the ship, which is resting at a depth of 50 metres (163 feet) off Porticello, near Palermo.

During the rescue effort, divers saw "corpses through the portholes" of the wreck, Salvo Cocina, the head of the Civil Protection of Sicily, said.

“They were in the wrong place at the wrong time,” he added.

The incident comes days after Stephen Chamberlain, Mr Lynch's co-accused in the fraud trial, died in a car collision in Stretham, Cambridgeshire.

Mr Chamberlain's lawyer said he was out running on Saturday when he was hit by a car.

Most on board yacht thought to be British

The boat had 12 passengers and a crew of 10 people. Four of the missing passengers are British and two are American, Italian news website la Reppublica reports.

Most of those on board were reported to be from Britain - including a mother and one-year-old daughter who are among those rescued.

Speaking to the Giornale Di Sicilia newspaper, Charlotte Golunski said: "For two seconds I lost my baby in the sea, then I immediately hugged her again amid the fury of the waves.

"I held her tightly, close to me, while the sea was stormy. Many were screaming. Luckily, the lifeboat inflated and 11 of us managed to get on board."

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Ms Golunski was reportedly given stitches for a chest injury following the ordeal. The father of the child also survived, Mr Cocina said.

Eight of the 15 people rescued and taken ashore at Porticello were taken to hospital, while the others were taken to a hotel.

The Italian coast guard said the boat had passengers from Britain, the US, and Canada.

Meanwhile, multiple Italian news outlets reported that people on the boat were from Britain, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, and Ireland.

British-French citizens were also among those on the superyacht, according to reports.

'I saw it sinking with my own eyes'

Pietro Asciutto, a fisherman from Porticello who witnessed the storm, told local media: "I was at home when the tornado hit. I immediately closed all the windows. Then I saw the boat, it had only one mast, it was very big. I saw it suddenly sink."

He added: "I think the whirlwind came from Porticello... shortly afterwards I went down to Santa Nicolicchia Bay to get a better look at what was happening.

"The boat was still floating, then all of a sudden it disappeared. I saw it sinking with my own eyes."

Fabio Cefalu, another local fisherman, called rescue services after spotting the wrecked boat off Porticello.

He said: "Around 3.55am we witnessed the whirlwind. After a quarter of an hour, we saw a flare 500 metres away from the dock.

"Around 4:35am we went out to sea for the rescue, however, we only saw the remains of the boat floating. There were no men in the sea. So we immediately called the harbour master's office."

A spokesman for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said: "We are in contact with the local authorities following an incident in Sicily, and stand ready to provide consular support to British nationals affected."

Camper and Nicholsons, which provided yacht management services for the Bayesian, has confirmed the vessel sank at around 4.30am local time.

The company said in a statement: "The Italian coast guard is leading search and rescue operations, and has safely recovered 15 individuals. Efforts to locate the seven missing persons continue.

"Our priority is assisting with the ongoing search and providing all necessary support to the rescued passengers and crew."

Online charter sites listed the Bayesian as available for rent for up to €195,000 (about £166,339) a week.

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• Superyacht sinking

11th victim found after a boat carrying migrants capsized on a river on the Serbia-Bosnia border

The death toll from a migrant boat capsizing on the border between Serbia and Bosnia has risen to 11

BRATUNAC, Bosnia-Herzegovina — A man’s body was pulled out of the Drina River on the border between Serbia and Bosnia on Friday, bringing to 11 the number of people who drowned when a boat carrying migrants capsized a day earlier, Serbian police said.

The body of an “irregular migrant” was found on the Bosnian side of the river, Serbia Interior Minister Ivica Dačić said in a statement. He said that authorities believe that the man is the last missing person from Thursday’s tragedy.

The boat was carrying between 25 and 30 migrants when it overturned early Thursday on the Drina. The bodies of 10 people, including a mother and her baby, were found in the river on Thursday, while police said that 18 people made it to land.

The victims include eight people from Syria, two from Egypt and one from Iraq, Dačić said. He said that Serbian police were working to identify and prosecute people smugglers who organized the illegal journey.

Vladan Rankic, who headed the search and rescue team, told The Associated Press that the crossings are very dangerous because of frequent changes in the Drina’s water levels because of the proximity of two hydropower plants.

“It is not safe to cross the river as was attempted yesterday and we all saw what happened,” he said. “It is a dangerous river during the night for those who know it, and it is even more dangerous for those who do not know it.”

Migrants using the so-called Balkan land route in their efforts to reach Western Europe come to Serbia from Bulgaria or North Macedonia before moving on to Hungary, Croatia or Bosnia.

To reach wealthy European countries, people fleeing wars and poverty often turn to people smugglers to take them across borders without authorization. They face multiple dangers along their journeys.

Follow AP migration coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/migration

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Yacht capsized: Mike Lynch, Morgan Stanley boss Jonathan Bloomer and other passengers feared dead, coast guard says

World europe.

Six guests and nine crew were rescued from the Bayesian yacht

London: British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch and Morgan Stanley International chairman Jonathan Bloomer are among those feared dead aboard the sunken wreckage of a luxury yacht off the coast of Sicily, following a statement from the Italian coastguard.

“Never say never is our motto,” Vincenzo Zagarola, spokesperson for the Italian Coast Guard, said.

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“But, at this point, it would be reasonable to think that we are more likely to find the missing people inside the boat.”

Zagarola added that the search for the six missing people would continue, with the help of military ships and helicopters. In a separate interview with the PA news agency when asked if the passengers would be found alive, he said “reasonably the answer should be not.”

• UK tech tycoon Mike Lynch missing after yacht sinks off Sicily
• Search continues for two missing footballers in northern Morocco
• Morgan Stanley boss, his wife among missing in yacht disaster as fresh search for 6 launched
• What is fate of 22 people aboard capsized yacht?

Six guests and nine crew were rescued from the Bayesian yacht, which sank after a tornado struck the vessel near Porticello, Sicily on Monday. Lynch and his family were celebrating his recent acquittal from fraud charges with a small group of advisers when the violent storm hit.

The head of the civil protection agency in Sicily, Salvo Cocina, said in a message to Bloomberg earlier on Tuesday that the six missing passengers are Bloomer and his wife Judy, Clifford Chance partner Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda, as well as Lynch and his daughter Hannah.

Lynch, 59, had been seeking to restore his reputation as one of Europe’s most successful entrepreneurs. For years, he’d argued that he had been scapegoated over the $11 billion acquisition of his software company, Autonomy Corp., by Hewlett Packard Co. in 2011. A year later, HP wrote down $8.8 billion of the purchase price and publicly accused Lynch of fraud.

Italian authorities have already begun a probe into the sinking. The UK’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch, which investigates marine accidents involving British vessels worldwide, has sent four inspectors to Sicily to conduct a preliminary assessment, according to a spokesperson for the Department for Transport. They will speak to the local authorities and emergency service crews to determine whether they need to launch an investigation.

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Videos: Superyacht 007 Capsizes and Sinks in Greece

Aegean superyacht 007 sinks near Kythnos, Greece

The 49-meter superyacht “007” sank on the island of Kythnos, Greece on Friday night. No one was hurt.

The Coast Guard announced that the yacht is now in an almost fully submerged state.

The superyacht 007 ran aground on Friday evening, causing an inflow of water that gradually tilted the vessel.

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Moment bayesian yacht engulfed by storm, alinghi red bull racing suffers mast failure, dozens of boats stranded against rocks after storm dana.

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