15 people were rescued from the over 50-meter-long yacht, including a one-year-old child.
The mother of the girl tells Italian Ansa how she lost her grip on her daughter in the water for a brief second, but then managed to reach the little girl and hold her above the surface until the rescue arrived.
It was terrifying. The boat was hit by extremely strong winds and sank shortly after, says the British woman.
Several of the survivors are now being treated in hospital.
The luxury sailboat Bayesian was caught in sudden storm winds when it was around 300 meters from the harbor in Porticello near Palermo early on Monday morning. According to local media, it was a waterspout, whose force likely caused the mast to break and the ship to lose its balance.
In just a few hours, the boat had sunk to a depth of 50 meters, reports Italian Il Giornale. Left on the surface were cushions and wooden fragments from the boat's reportedly luxurious, minimalist interior.
A normal, joyful holiday day at sea that turned into a tragedy, says a witness who from land saw the illuminated boat disappear into the sea, to Ansa.
On board were tourists from, among others, the UK, the USA, Ireland, and New Zealand, according to local media.
The missing are reported to be four Britons, two Americans, and one Canadian. According to reports in British media, one of them is the well-known tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, 59.
