On Sunday night the British-flagged luxury yacht the Bayesian was photographed showing the stunning 56m vessel lit up with lights anchored off the coast of a Sicilian fishing village in calm Mediterranean waters.
But just hours later tragedy would strike when a sudden freak weather event hit the area around 5am local time, with witnesses reporting wind so strong they snapped the Bayesian’s record-breaking 236-foot-tall aluminium mast.
Italian authorities believe so far that the mast collapse and the boat being at anchor may have caused the vessel to capsize sending it to rest around 50 metres down on the seabed.
So far 15 of the 22 people on board the Bayesian, which was owned by British tech tycoon Mike Lynch, have been accounted for, and six, including Mr Lynch and his daughter, remain missing.
It’s thought the weather event that caused this unimaginable tragedy could have been a waterspout, a rare tornado-like column of wind that forms over a body of water.
Here Express.co.uk looks at what could have caused such a waterspout to form and why they can be so deadly…
A waterspout looks like a tornado that forms over water, but there are two types of weather phenomena and one is considerably more deadly than the other.
The most common types of waterspouts, known as “fair weather” or “non-tornadic”, are relatively weak columns of air that form over lakes, seas and large rivers.
The rarer and more dangerous version of a waterspout is effectively a tornado formed over water, and these have been recorded in the Mediterranean before.
According to the US National Ocean Service, the deadlier types of waterspout are “often accompanied by high winds and seas, large hail, and frequent dangerous lightning”.
The wind in these types of waterspouts reaches speeds of no more than around 60mph and the spouts themselves last for about 20 minutes before dissipating.
These types of spinning air columns are mostly formed in tropical and sub-tropical climates, for example in Florida around 400 are observed every year.
Waterspouts like this typically move very slowly but often stay in one place. There does not necessarily need to be any storm or bad weather conditions for these spouts to form.
As the name suggests these waterspouts are effectively tornadoes formed over water, and although not as powerful as their land-based cousins, they can still be extremely dangerous.
Winds in these larger storms can reach speeds of over 110mph and the event is usually part of a larger storm system. Waterspouts of this severity have been recognised by both maritime and aviation authorities as a danger to marine traffic and aircraft.
In the Mediterranean these vortexes have been seen throughout history, one of the earliest recorded instances being on the island of Malta, south of Sicily, when 100s died in the 1500s when one struck the Grand Harbour.
Climate change has been recognised to have been causing changes in weather patterns and scientists believe strong waterspouts could be an extreme weather event becoming more common.
The Guardian reports according to the Royal Meteorological Society: “Rising global temperatures due to climate change means warmer air, which allows it to hold more moisture, roughly 7 percent more moisture per 1C of warming.
“This boosts the chance of thunderstorms, leading to more violent storms and more lightning strikes. And the intense downpours will lead to localised flash flooding.”
Last year an incredible 15 waterspouts were recorded in a single day by the International Centre for Waterspout Research off the coasts of Italy, France and Spain.
