PREVIEW

**VIDEO AVAILABLE: CONTACT INFO@COVERMG.COM TO RECEIVE**

One person has died, and six are still missing after a luxury yacht carrying 22 people sank off the coast of Sicily during a severe storm on Monday, according to Italian authorities.
The yacht, named Bayesian, was caught in a violent storm and went down near Porticello, roughly 12 miles east of the Sicilian capital of Palermo.
The Italian coastguards and firefighters sent out rescue teams and managed to save 15 people from the vessel, among them a one-year-old child.
According to the Italian fire service, one body had been recovered close to the wreckage, with six others still unaccounted for. Those missing include four Britons, two Americans, and one Canadian. The vessel had a crew of 10 and 12 passengers onboard.
The incident occurred at approximately 5:00 am local time (0300 GMT) as the 56-metre yacht, flying the British flag, sank following the storm.
Efforts are ongoing to reach the yacht’s hull, which lies around 49 metres (approximately 160 feet) underwater. Specialist divers from Naples and Sassari, Sardinia, have been dispatched to assist in the search
Eight of those rescued, including the infant, were taken to nearby hospitals and are reportedly in stable condition.
The Bayesian was a luxury sailing yacht with an aluminium hull capable of reaching speeds up to 15 knots.
The yacht had departed from the port of Milazzo in Sicily on 14 August and was last recorded anchored east of Palermo on Sunday evening, according to the tracking app Vesselfinder.
Local media reports suggest that a waterspout, a swirling column of air and water that forms over bodies of water and can be as destructive as a tornado, may have struck the vessel.
The public prosecutor’s office in Termini Imerese has launched an investigation into the incident.