One person was killed and six people were missing on Monday after a yacht carrying 22 people sank during a violent storm off the coast of Sicily, Italian officials said.
Italy’s firefighter corps said that their divers had started carrying out a search and rescue mission at dawn near Porticello, about 12 miles east of the Sicilian capital of Palermo. Fifteen people had been rescued, they said.
Luca Cari, a spokesman for the firefighters, said in a telephone interview that expert divers were on the way from Naples and Sassari, Sardinia, to search the vessel which was located some 50 meters, or about 165 feet, underwater.
Operations at that depth, were “complicated,” he said, and required specialized divers.
The boat, identified as the Bayesian, is an Italian-made 56-meter-long sailing yacht first launched in 2008 according to the website marinetraffic.com which tracks ships. It sails under the flag of the United Kingdom.
Read More: 1 Dead and 6 Missing After Yacht Sinks off Sicily
