Gemma Collins enjoyed a wild ride across the sea in Greece on Tuesday after saying she was “lucky to have survived” the storm in Sicily that killed Mike Lynch.
The TV personality, 43, and his nephew Hayden, 15, were aboard another luxury boat when the Bayesian superyacht sank nearby, killing British tech billionaire Mike, his daughter, Hannah, and five others.
Gemma said she was left in shock after being stranded at sea for four hours near Porticello.
After jetting off to Crete this week, the former TOWIE star quoted Oasis as saying: “You’ve got to move on” and dismissed her recent sailing experience.
Sharing an update on Instagram, she was swept through the water with her partner Rami Hawash and their son.
Gemma Collins enjoyed a wild ride across the sea in Greece on Tuesday after saying she was “lucky to have survived” the storm in Sicily that killed Mike Lynch.
The 43-year-old television personality was aboard another luxury boat when the Bayesian superyacht sank nearby, killing British tech billionaire Mike, his daughter, Hannah, and five others.
Gemma captioned: ‘YOU GOT TO STICK WITH IT. When people ask me what I’m going to do, I say, ‘Well, you got to stick with it.’ #lifemottostoliveby #oasis.’
Last week she said she had been “very lucky to have survived” after being caught in the terrifying storm that hit Sicily.
In an update shared on Instagram, she wrote: “Holiday update. My deepest condolences to those involved in the tragic disaster at sea in Sicily.”
‘My nephew and I were very lucky to survive the storm at sea.’
“I’m in shock and will be returning to the UK tomorrow. God was on our side today. We were stuck for 4 hours. Can you imagine what was going through my mind? Thank you @bluediamondcruise for helping us get back safely.”
Six passengers, including Lynch and her 18-year-old daughter Hannah, died along with chef Recaldo Thomas after the British-flagged pleasure yacht capsized and came to rest on its side in 164ft of water in the early hours of Monday.
The ship is believed to have sunk after its mast, one of the tallest in the world at a whopping 246 feet, It broke during the brutal incident and capsized, taking the hull beyond the “angle of downward flooding,” according to nautical experts.
Specialist divers involved in the search operation said on Tuesday that the £30m ship, named the Bayesian, was found on the seabed with “virtually everything intact”, with furniture blocking attempts to enter.
After jetting off to Crete this week, the former TOWIE star quoted Oasis as saying: “You’ve got to move on” and brushed aside her recent sailing experience.
The boat capsized after being hit by a rip current at around 5am and the captain of the wrecked vessel said “we didn’t see it coming” after he and 15 others were rescued from the water.
Tornado-speed winds capsized the superyacht so quickly that those on board had no time to raise the alarm or call for help before they had to swim for their lives, and those who managed to get out were stranded in the dark water as the storm raged around them.
Italian prosecutors held a press conference on Saturday, where it was revealed that the victims were unable to escape because they may have been sleeping.
They had rushed to the side of the ship for air pockets in a desperate bid to survive, and Hannah, who had won a place at Oxford University, died alone in a cabin.
The bodies of the victims were tragically found in “cramped spaces” with furniture on top and brought to shore one by one by diving teams last week, who had made 120 trips to the wreck on the seabed.
Fifteen of the 22 people on board the boat, including Hannah’s mother, Angela Bacares, 57, managed to escape on a life raft.
Italian prosecutors have admitted they did not test the ship’s crew for alcohol or drugs (all but one survived) because they needed treatment and were in shock. They have vowed to question the sailors thoroughly.
Last week she said she was “very lucky to have survived” after being caught in the terrible storm that hit Sicily.
Six passengers, including Lynch and her 18-year-old daughter Hannah, died along with chef Recaldo Thomas after the yacht capsized and came to rest on its side in 164 feet of water (pictured in 2019).
Gemma and her nephew Hayden, 15, who were on board another luxury boat, were left shaken after being stranded at sea for four hours.
In an update, he wrote: “My deepest condolences to those involved in the tragic disaster at sea in Sicily. ‘I was very lucky, my nephew and I, to have survived the storm at sea.'”
She shared a video showing how the boat’s staff helped Gemma and her nephew get back to shore safely.
Lynch had invited family and friends onto the yacht to celebrate his “second life” after being acquitted of all charges in a US fraud trial, and in an extraordinary twist, his co-defendant Stephen Chamberlain, who was also acquitted of the charges, also died after being hit by a car while jogging in England over the weekend.
Inspector Marco Tilotta, head of the Palermo Fire Brigade’s diving unit, compared the horrific search operation to the Costa Concordia cruise ship disaster in 2012, which claimed the lives of 33 people.
Curiously, specialist cave divers called in for the search and rescue operation found “virtually everything intact” on board, with few signs of damage and “no rips on the sides or signs of impact”, he told MailOnline.
The whirlwind has been described as “extremely intense, sudden and very localised,” the inspector told Il Messaggero.
Survivors of the tragedy were taken to several hospitals on the island of Sicily and began to recount their terrifying experience.
Among the 15 rescued was one-year-old baby Sofia, who was kept afloat by her mother, Charlotte Golunski, 36.
Golunski, an Oxford graduate and senior associate at Mike’s firm, Invoke Capital, recounted her struggle to save her son from drowning.
“I lost my baby in the sea for two seconds, then I immediately held her again in the midst of the fury of the waves,” Golunski said.
“I kept her afloat with all my strength, with my arms stretched upwards to prevent her from drowning,” he added.
Lynch was once hailed as the UK’s tech king and is often referred to as “the British Bill Gates”.
In June, he was acquitted of fraud and conspiracy charges in a U.S. federal trial related to Hewlett Packard’s $11 billion acquisition of his company, Autonomy Corp.
The yacht trip appeared to be something of a celebration following Lynch’s acquittal, with guests including members of her legal team as well as friends, family and witnesses who supported Lynch throughout the trial.