Dutch sea captain "did what had to be done" when rescuing 15 in Sicily
Sea captain Karst Börner from Friesland rescued 15 people, including a baby, from a yacht that capsized in heavy weather near Sicily on Monday. “It was traumatic,” the skipper told Omrop Fryslán. “But at that moment, you don’t think. You just do what needs to be done.”
The luxury yacht, the Bayesian, sank at the port of Porticello, east of Palermo, early on Monday morning during a storm with strong wind gusts. Of the 22 people on board, Börner rescued 15 - including a Dutch crewmember. One person died, and six others are still missing.
Börner was anchored at Porticello with his ship, Sir Robert Baden Powell, at Porticello on Monday. “The weather forecast included thunderstorms and that can sometimes be strange in the Mediterranean,” he told the regional broadcaster. He and his crew got up early that morning. “We were somewhat prepared for it.”
A waterspout - a kind of weaker, wetter tornado above a body of water - appeared. “Very strong and intense. We had a hard time keeping the ship in place with the engine and anchor. The yacht was behind us. We looked every now and then to see where they were. At one point, it disappeared.”
Börner checked the radar and saw no sign of the yacht. He immediately knew something was wrong. That’s when one of his passengers saw a red flare. “A moment later, I saw it too, and together with my helmsman, I got into the tender, the dinghy, and went that way. We found a life raft with 15 people in it, four seriously injured, and also a baby.”
He took the people to his boat and got them warm and dry while his crew called the coast guard. The coast guard later picked up the injured and took them to an ambulance on shore. The luxury yacht is now 50 meters underwater. The Italian emergency services are still searching for the missing passengers.
According to Börner, waterspouts don’t happen often. “It is really strange. It’s because the water is much too warm. The Mediterranean water here is now over 32 degrees, which is 5 degrees too warm.”
