This morning, around 5:00 am, a nautical accident occurred off the coast of Little Portin the province of Palermo: the Bayesan, a sailing yacht approximately 56 meters flying the English flag, was shipwrecked and sunk due to the bad weather conditions (perhaps due to a whirlwind over the sea). Currently some 22 people present on board 16 they were rescued but, unfortunately, a he lost his life and others 6 are still missing, the only crew member of which is the ship’s cook. The survivors have been placed at the Domina Zagarella hotel in Santa Flavia, while the Coast Guard in Porticello is carrying out the investigations ordered by the judicial authorities. The hull is now located approximately 49 meters deep half a mile from the coast and the Fire Brigade divers are diving to reach him. The exact dynamics of the accident are still to be clarified: according to initial reports by press agencies, the boat was located a short distance from the port of Porticello and, at the time of the disaster, some of the passengers may have remained trapped in the cabins.
Many newspapers claim that the cause of this disaster is a whirlwind. At the moment we cannot say with precision whether this is the cause or a downburstthat is, a strong descending current that comes from a storm cloud and hits the ground at high speed but without vortex motion: the only thing that seems to be confirmed at the moment is that at 4:00, therefore an hour before the disaster, a strong storm with a whirlwind hit the local coasts. In fact, we remember that both phenomena, in order to occur, require storm clouds and therefore especially in this period it is good to keep attention high and monitor the alerts issued by the Civil Protection.
However, beyond the specific weather phenomenon, what is certain is that in general the number of tornadoes (even at sea) and their intensity is in constant increase in Italy. This is largely linked to the warming of the Mediterranean waters: consider that the August 15, 2024 a new record has been reached with an average daily water temperature of 28.56 °C, exceeding the previous record by more than a tenth of a degree 28.40 °C of the July 24, 2023.
