MEZIESBLOG

Storms and heavy rainfall have swept down Italy in recent days after weeks of scorching heat.

The high temperatures heated the Mediterranean sea to record levels, raising the risk of extreme weather conditions, experts said. 

“The sea surface temperature around Sicily was around 30 degrees Celsius, which is almost three degrees more than normal,” said meteorologist Luca Mercalli.

“This creates an enormous source of energy that contributes to these storms.

“We can’t say that this is all due to global warming but we can say that it has an amplifying effect.”

Coastguard resumes operation off Sicily coastline

The search and rescue operation appears to have resumed – though we have yet to hear anything from local authorities.

Pictures are coming in from Reuters photographers of the Italian coastguard off the coast of Porticello, near the Sicilian city of Palermo.

Camera crews can be seen watching from the shore.

Witnesses describe sinking of the Bayesian

We’ve been hearing more this morning from survivors and witnesses of the Bayesian’s sinking.

The nearby captain of a Dutch-flagged vessel told the Reuters news agency that when the winds surged, he used the engine to keep his boat upright and avoid a collision with the Bayesian, which had been anchored alongside him. 

“We managed to keep the ship in position and after the storm was over, we noticed that the ship behind us was gone,” Karsten Borner told journalists. 

The other boat “went flat on the water, and then down”, he added. 

He said his crew then found some of the survivors on a life raft – including a baby girl and her mother – and took them on board before the coast guard picked them up. 

Meanwhile, a coast guard official in the Sicilian capital Palermo told Reuters that the wind was “very strong” and that bad weather “of this magnitude” was not expected.

Yacht still ‘practically intact’ on seabed, says diver

A diver inspecting the wreckage of the Bayesian superyacht says it is “practically intact” on the seabed.

Speaking to Italian newspaper Il Messaggero, Marco Tilotta, a firefighter diver from Palermo, said the £30m yacht was lying on its side at a depth of 48 metres.

He added the divers were unable to gain access to the vessel because of floating furnishings and other debris inside the yacht.

“When we went down to the water around 5.30am, we found a yacht that was practically intact,” he said.

“It is resting on its side on the starboard side. It has no gashes, no signs of impact.”