Hatches and doors left open overnight on the superyacht Bayesian may have caused it to sink in Italy, a sailing expert has said.
Sam Jefferson, editor of Sailing Today magazine, believes the ship’s massive mast may also have contributed to the deadly event.
A body has been found and six people remain missing after the Bayesian sank off the coast of Palermo, Sicily, in the early hours of Monday.
It is believed that the ship was hit by a tornado over water, known as a waterspout.
Weather records show that temperatures reached around 33°C the day before the sinking, which may have led the ship’s occupants to want air circulation while they slept.
Mr. Jefferson said, “I would say the boat was hit pretty hard by the wind and got stuck on its side.
“I imagine all the doors were open because it was hot, so there were enough hatches and doors open that the ship filled with water very quickly and sank like that.
“The reason he got so stuck was because the mast is huge.
“It acted almost like a sail. (It) pushed the boat hard to the side.
“(The boat) filled with water before it could right itself.
“This is all speculation, but it is the only logical explanation.”
Mr Jefferson added that such incidents were “incredibly rare”, describing the chances of a yacht being hit by a waterspout as “minuscule”.
The yacht’s aluminum mast measures 72 meters, making it one of the largest sailing yachts in the world.
Karsten Borner, captain of another yacht that was near Bayesian, told Reuters news agency he witnessed the ship “sink into the water and then sink”.
Salvo Cocina, of Sicily’s civil protection agency, said: “They were in the wrong place at the wrong time.”