Nine rescued from listing superyacht off Italy’s Mediterranean coast

The Italian Coast Guard successfully rescued all four passengers and five crewmembers of a large yacht as it listed heavily and subsequently sank in storm-hit waters in the Mediterranean Sea off Italy on Saturday, August 20.

The 40-metre vessel was some 14 kilometres off the coast of Catanzaro and en route to Milazzo when its crew reported water ingress near the stern in the early evening (local time) of Saturday.

The crews of two responding coast guard patrol boats pulled all nine of the yacht's occupants to safety while a tug secured a line to tow the larger vessel to Crotone for repairs. However, the towing operation had to be abandoned after rough weather and sea conditions caused the yacht to rapidly sink stern-first until it was completely submerged.

A coast guard official said retrieval of the yacht is now "impractical" due to the prevailing conditions in the area.

An investigation has since been launched to identify the possible causes of the incident.