ROME, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- Rescuers on Tuesday continued to search for survivors from a sinking yacht off the coast of Sicily. However, local authorities said the chances of finding the six missing persons were limited.
The accident happened in the early hours of Monday due to a freak storm. Francesco Venuto, a spokesman for the civil protection agency on the southern Italian island region of Sicily, told Xinhua that as of Tuesday afternoon, divers were struggling to reach the vessel's inner cabins where the missing people are probably trapped.
However, oxygen in the yacht is limited, therefore the chances that the missing passengers have survived were "quickly diminishing," he said.
"We found the yacht around 50 meters beneath the surface on a ledge, but divers have not been able to access the inner cabins," Venuto said. "We have been searching the area with helicopters and boats and have seen no sign of the six missing people. They must be in the boat, and the only question is whether they are living or not."
Climatologists said the kind of "spontaneous waterspout" that struck the yacht, snapping its mast and flipping it over, is a naturally occurring phenomenon that has become more common because of the warming climate.
The luxury 56-meter yacht, called the Bayesian, was carrying 12 passengers and 10 crew members when it sank. So far, 15 people have been rescued and one dead body has been found. Authorities said the deceased was the yacht's chef, but they did not release his name.
Authorities confirmed that the six missing passengers were billionaire tech financier Mike Lynch, Lynch's 18-year-old daughter Hannah Lynch; Jonathan Bloomer, chairman of banking and finance giant Morgan Stanley International, Bloomer's wife Judy, an activist; jewelry designer Neda Morvillo and her husband, former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York Chris Morvillo.
Angela Bacares, Mike Lynch's wife and Hannah's mother, has been rescued. Most survivors reported being on or near the yacht's deck when the waterspout hit. Eight of the 15 rescued were taken to the hospital, but none were in critical condition as of Tuesday.
Luca Mercalli, a climatologist and president of the Italian Meteorological Society, told Italian state broadcaster RAI: "The water temperature around Sicily is around three degrees warmer than normal and that can create energy that makes storms like this more intense and more frequent."
The warmer sea temperatures come amid the third consecutive summer of intense heatwaves, with major cities under constant heat alerts and water shortages. Temperatures have regularly topped 40 degrees Celsius.
