Chilling footage captures the moment a superyacht went under off the coast of Sicily.
This dramatic video was recorded by a camera stationed in a villa on the nearby shore, roughly 200 meters away from the doomed yacht.
In the monochrome footage, the yacht is identifiable by the lights on its hull and mast, with one light marking the tip of the mast.
Surrounded by darkness, the vessel is seen pitching in the water as heavy rain lashes the camera in the foreground.
Within less than a minute, the lights indicating the hull’s position shrink before vanishing completely.
The entire event unfolds in seconds, and by the clip’s end, the light at the top of the mast is still faintly visible.
The 56m sailboat Bayesian had 22 people onboard and was reportedly anchored offshore near the port of Porticello, on Sicily’s northern coast.
Once the footage surfaced, the owner of the villa, where the camera was set up, spoke to the Italian news agency Ansa.
According to Giornale di Sicilia, the villa owner said: “Of about twenty cameras installed in the property only one wasn’t disturbed by the wind and the rain.
“You can see what happened very well. There was nothing that could be done for the boat. It disappeared in a very short time.”
The exact cause of the rapid sinking remains unclear.
Nonetheless, some reports suggest that a waterspout—a tornado over water—might have struck the yacht.
Maritime experts have expressed disbelief at the speed with which the Bayesian sank.
Stephen Richter, from SAR Marine Consulting, told NBC: “I can’t remember the last time I read about a vessel going down quickly like that, you know, completely capsizing and going down that quickly, a vessel of that nature, a yacht of that size.”
He added: “Boats of this size, they’re taking passengers on an excursion or a holiday. They are not going to put them in situations where it may be dangerous or it may be uncomfortable, so this storm that popped up was obviously an anomaly.”
One fatality has been confirmed following the incident, with 15 individuals rescued.
Six people remain missing, including technology entrepreneur Mike Lynch.
Those missing are believed to be trapped inside the hull, which now rests nearly 170 feet underwater.
Investigations into the cause of the Bayesian’s sinking have been initiated by Italian authorities and the UK’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch.