Sicily Yacht Sinking: 4 Bodies Recovered From the Wreckage By Divers
There’s been a heartbreaking update in the Sicily yacht tragedy.
After a superyacht sank off the coast of Palermo, Italy, during a violent storm Aug. 19, divers have discovered four bodies among the ship’s wreckage, a source familiar with the rescue operations told NBC News.
The identities of the recovered bodies have not yet been determined, but the discovery comes shortly after the names of the six missing passengers were shared.
British tech mogul Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, Morgan Stanley International Chairman Jonathan Bloomer and his wife, and Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife have yet to be accounted for, the Director of Sicily’s Civil Protection Agency Salvatore Cocina told NBC News.
Per the outlet, Morvillo and Bloomer’s employers later identified their missing wives as Judy Bloomer and Neda Morvillo.
It is believed the passengers were located in the ship’s hull, which remains over 150 feet underwater. Divers continue to search among the wreckage, but the depth, along with other obstructions and narrow passageways have made it an ordeal.
While the aforementioned six people remain unaccounted for, Lynch’s wife Angela Bacares, the ship’s cook Ricardo Thomas as well as nine other crew members and two other passengers were recovered from the shipwreck. Eight of those rescued were brought to a hospital, while the rest were brought to a nearby hotel. Despite being rescued, Thomas later died, NBC News reported.
Among the other extricated passengers, Charlotte Golunski Emsley recounted her and husband James Emsley’s saga of survival, along with their 12-month-old Sophie after they were woken up by the storm—which could have included a waterborne tornado known as a waterspout, meteorologists told NBC News.
Golunski described the family’s search for a lifeboat, which later safely stowed themselves and 11 other passengers, as “the end of the world.”
“It was all dark,” she recalled to the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, per the BBC. “In the water I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I screamed for help but all I could hear around me was the screams of others.”
(E! News and NBC News are both a part of the NBCUniversal family.)
For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News App