The twin brother of missing Morgan Stanley boss Jonathon Bloomer said it was still a “wait and see” situation as hopes fade of finding him and his wife alive in the Sicily superyacht tragedy.
Six people, including Bloomer, his wife Judy, British tech tycoon Mike Lynch and their 18-year-old daughter, remain missing after the £30m Bayesian superyacht capsized early yesterday morning.
Rescue teams are now frantically searching for trapped survivors and have warned that the next 24 hours are “critical” if there is any hope of finding anyone alive, with the slim possibility that there may still be an air pocket inside the wreckage.
Jeremy Bloomer has said his family is “coping as best we can” and has not received any updates on search efforts other than that divers are struggling to access the wreckage.
He told the BBC the situation was “terrible” and “beyond the wildest imagination”.
Morgan Stanley International Chairman Jonathan Bloomer (pictured left) has yet to be found
Mr Bloomer’s wife Judy was also on board the £30million Bayesian superyacht and has yet to be found.
The superyacht was moored off the coast of Porticello, near Palermo, when it was hit by an overseas tornado, known as a waterspout.
Rescue teams are looking into the Bayesian’s plans as they mount a search operation for six people still missing after the superyacht sank.
He added: “It’s a slow process and it will take time. So there may be air pockets, but we don’t know.”
“He was half an hour older than me. So it means a lot to lose a twin brother. We still have to wait and see what happens, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.”
“I’m numb, numb. That’s all, you don’t know what to think and you can’t believe it happened.”
Neighbours in Knockholt, Kent, where Bloomer and his wife used to spend weekends at a £5m cottage on the outskirts of the picturesque village, also said they were stunned by the news.
Harry Osenton, who ran local pub The Three Horseshoes where the couple were occasionally seen, said: “It was a great surprise. I remember he (Mr Bloomer) coming here from time to time with his family. I don’t think he lived in the village full-time but he was here at the beginning of the summer.”
Neighbours of the couple’s large country home, which features a separate cottage in the extensive grounds, also expressed shock.
They said: “We’ve been following the news and saw Johnathan’s name. He used the place mainly at weekends. I assume it was his country house and he lived in London most of the time.”
Others in the village said they had been following the events of the tragedy but did not know Mr Bloomer.
“I feel terrible for his family,” said one resident who asked not to be identified. “I can’t imagine what they must be going through.”
Bloomer, 70, was chairman of the international division of US banking giant Morgan Stanley. His country house was formerly a children’s home from 1954 to 1965.
Search teams in Sicily say the boat he was on with his wife is stranded 164 feet below the surface on the seabed and is so deep that diving teams can only go down for 10 minutes at a time, their efforts hampered by furniture blocking entrances.
An expert has claimed the ship, which is almost completely intact despite not being “anchored in a safe place” before it sank, could have air pockets trapped inside it that could allow survivors to stay alive after the “unprecedented” disaster.
There have been cases in the past of people surviving for days underwater in such circumstances, but rescue divers have warned they are prepared to find dead bodies rather than living survivors.
One person has been confirmed dead after the £30million superyacht was hit by a terrifying rip current at around 5am on Monday morning, with the ship’s captain emotionally claiming “we didn’t see it coming” from his hospital bed.
The ship is believed to have sunk after its mast, one of the tallest in the world at a whopping 246 feet, broke during the brutal incident and tilted, taking the hull beyond the “angle of downward flooding,” according to nautical experts.
Divers attempting to enter the superyacht found their progress hampered by furniture blocking entrances and exits.
Security cameras captured the final moments of the Bayesian superyacht before it sank beneath the waves during a fierce storm early Monday morning.
British tech mogul Mike Lynch remains missing. His wife, Angela Bacares (right), was among 15 people rescued from the yacht
Italian Coast Guard Command teams and firefighters are conducting search and rescue operations.
Operation officials say specialist divers are having difficulty reaching the cabins where survivors might be and are having to drill to reach the lounge.
Luca Cari, head of emergency communications for Italy’s fire and rescue department, said divers cannot see anything inside the yacht from the outside and have only been able to inspect the bridge deck, the room from which the captain navigates.
Describing the challenges faced by the divers, he told local news agency Ansa: “They can stay underwater for a maximum of 12 minutes, two of which are needed to go up and down. Therefore, the actual time to be able to carry out the search is 10 minutes per dive.”
Rescuers said that from what they can see, there do not appear to be any bodies on the yacht’s bridge and divers are now working to enter the lounge area.
The ship is resting on its starboard (right) side, 164 feet below the waves, and initial efforts by diving teams were unsuccessful in trying to move furniture that was blocking access to the cabins below, Inspector Tilotta said.
Rescuers are still hoping that, against all odds, survivors can be found in the trapped air pockets, but Inspector Tilotta admitted that “it is a race against time and the quality of oxygen will be poor.”