An expert has revealed the massive challenges facing divers after the sinking of the luxury yacht that had Brit billionaire Mike Lynch onboard.
A hellish wait could be in store for anyone trapped in potential air pockets inside the 56-metre yacht the Bayesian, Dr Simon Boxall, oceanographer and principal teaching fellow at the University of Southampton, said. But there is a chance, albeit an increasingly slim one, that somebody could have survived.
The vessel was carrying 22 passengers and crew and was anchored off the port of Porticello when it capsized during the fierce storm.
“Given the speed the yacht went over… there is a very high chance that passengers will be trapped,” Dr Boxall told the Star. His comments came before news that divers had found four bodies inside the yacht. A further two people are unaccounted for.
READ MORE: Two bodies found in Mike Lynch search as divers look for missing Bayesian yacht victims
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(Image: PA)
Lynch was reported missing along with his 18-year-old daughter Hannah. The billionaire’s family is believed to be the owner of the Bayesian, which went down on Monday morning at around 5am near Palermo, Sicily.
“I would expect there, in a yacht of this size and the speed with which it went down to have air pockets,” Dr Boxall said. “The hull is of course water tight. You are not going to get water creeping in and forcing the air out.”
(Image: IGOR PETYX/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)
Dr Boxall used the example of yachtsman Tony Bullimore, who survived for four days and was eventually rescued alive when his yacht capsized in the southern ocean in 1997. Bullimore managed to survive in far colder water temperatures of around 6C or 7C, in which humans find it especially difficult to operate in without developing hypothermia.
Temperatures in the Mediterranean are around 3C higher than they usually are at this time of year. While it is not yet fully clear what caused the yacht to sink amid a bad storm, the higher water temperatures do mean freak weather events such as water spouts are more likely to happen.
But the possible cause of the disaster-scenario for could be a lifeline for anyone trapped in the hull of the £14 million yacht.
“You can survive quite some time in those temperatures,” Dr Boxall said. “It is now a question of are there air pockets and where are people in cabins with air pockets?
“There is a possibility.. a very faint possibility someone could survive in those air pockets. Now, it is a question of time which is why they are pushing forward quickly.”
Divers are dealing with a mammoth task, only able todive for a few minutes at a time, the seconds they can spend inside the hull of the ship are extremely precious. Dr Boxall said experts will be trying to get to the cabins which are towards the centre of the Bayesian, which will be even more difficult for searching divers to get to.
(Image: PA)
The search is further hampered by the depth the Bayesian is now at, around 50 metres below the surface. “At 50 metres the air pockets are going to be compromised,” Dr Boxall said, explaining divers can only be down at those depths for around 12 metres before they have to come back up to the surface again.
“Imagine taking your flat, filling it with water, shaking it and turning it on its side, turning the lights off and then saying ‘off you go, go and find someone’. This isn’t a flat [the Bayesian] is huge. Try and work you way through as a diver, in the dark, looking at your torch with floating furniture, all kinds of debris… you have got to take it very, very carefully.”
“As every hour goes by, the probability [of finding someone alive] gets less and less. This far in, I think it is incredibly unlikely when you look at the various coincidences so far.”
(Image: VIGILI DEL FUOCO HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)
Getting people out of the Bayesian also depends on the condition they are in. Potential survivors could be given a breathing apparatus and brought up slowly due to the water pressure, or a special hyperbaric pressure cage could be used.
“I think this will be a recovery operation, rather than a rescue operation.”
A team of four British inspectors from the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) have arrived in Porticello where they are expected to look at the site of the sinking.
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
They are understood to have arrived on Tuesday and are expected to carry out a “preliminary assessment” of the site on Wednesday.
The MAIB is looking into what happened because the sailing yacht Bayesian was flying a British flag, it is understood.
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