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Several people detained after fight breaks out at Montgomery’s Riverfront Park in Alabama

Update : Montgomery police say 4 active warrants out after brawl at Riverfront Park in Alabama

Several people were taken into custody Saturday night after a fight broke out at Montgomery’s Riverfront Park in Alabama, authorities said.

The Montgomery Police Department responded to a disturbance at the 200 block of Coosa Street in Montgomery, Alabama, at 7 p.m. after a large group of people were fighting. Several people were detained, police said.

A video of the incident, which appeared to be racially divided, was shared Sunday on social media. It’s been reported that it began because a pontoon boat was blocking dock space needed to park a riverboat. That area is the regular spot reserved for the Harriott II Riverboat.

Watch the video to see the massive boat deck brawl that led to several people being detained.

One short video, posted on social media by Josh Moon of the Alabama Political Reporter, shows several white people fighting a single Black man, who according to Jasmine Williams of WSFA is a dock worker.

The only audio heard is from witnesses yelling, but it appears to begin with an argument between the Black man and one of the white men. Another white man rushes and hits the Black man, who backs up and tosses his hat into the air. Then the fight begins in earnest, and several white people begin hitting the Black man.

During the video, one witness, apparently watching from the riverboat, screamed repeatedly, “Y’all help that brother!” to onlookers who were on shore. It appears some people from the shore did join in to defend him, and the video shows at least one Black man dive into the water from the riverboat.

“Get up there, young buck!” yelled another voice on the video.

By the time the swimmer climbed up onto the dock, about a minute into the video, most of the altercation appeared to be over in Moon's video.

A separate video posted by Lauryn Lauren shows scenes after that, as the Harriott II was preparing to dock. A group of people approached the pontoon boat, and more fighting broke out. At least one person fell into the water from the dock. Authorities were soon on the scene and police began taking people into custody .

Authorities have not released the names of the detained suspects. Charges against anyone involved in the fight are pending, MPD said.

Montgomery Advertiser reporter Shannon Heupel can be contacted at   [email protected]

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Montgomery, Alabama, boat co-captain seen in viral brawl video is now facing an assault charge

Dameion pickett set to be arraigned on nov. 21, court records show.

Alabama riverfront brawl: Video shows fight over parked pontoon boat

During a Tuesday afternoon press conference, Montgomery Police Department Chief Darryl Albert announced assault charges for the following men: Zachery Shipman, 25, Richard Roberts, 48, and Allen Todd, 23. (Credit: Joe Davenport via Storyful)

The boat co-captain at the center of a viral video that captured a wild brawl at a dock in Alabama in August is now facing a misdemeanor assault charge. 

Montgomery court records show one of the men accused of assaulting Dameion Pickett during the incident filed a complaint last month saying he hit him first during the chaotic melee.  

"I was not trying to fight," the man wrote in a statement, according to The Associated Press. The complaint was filed on Oct. 26 ahead of the man's Nov. 16 trial on a misdemeanor assault charge of hitting and kicking the riverboat co-captain. 

Pickett is now scheduled to be arraigned on Nov. 21. 

DOCK WORKER AT CENTER OF WILD BRAWL IN MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA, SAYS HE WAS ‘JUST IN SHOCK’ WHEN HE WAS ATTACKED  

Dameion Pickett, right, is punched in the head by a man after an argument on Aug. 5, 2023, in Montgomery, Alabama. (Christa)

Five other people were previously charged in the brawl in Montgomery. Two boaters previously pleaded guilty to charges of misdemeanor assault or harassment. Three other people, including a man who was filmed swinging a folding chair, have upcoming court dates. 

Pickett told ABC in late September that he was "just doing [his] job" and was "just in shock" when he was attacked.  

During an interview with ABC’s "Good Morning America," Pickett said the Harriott II was wrapping up a dinner cruise on Aug. 5 when a "lot of people" were in the way of the vessel arriving at Riverfront Park in Montgomery. Police have said a moored pontoon boat was blocking the larger vessel from docking. 

"We could have docked, but we would end up hitting a couple of those boats and be responsible for it," Pickett told ABC. 

BRAWL AT MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA RIVERFRONT DOCK CAUGHT ON VIDEO   

The fight escalated after a verbal altercation over the apparent docking of a pontoon boat along the river. (Christa)

The lead deckhand added that "Everybody was yelling, ‘Could you all move your boat?’" before he got off the dinner cruise and, under "the captain’s orders," went to move the pontoon boat himself just "four steps to the right." 

Pickett said words were exchanged, and he told an individual he was just doing his job. 

A viral video taken of the scene then shows a shirtless man running and taking a swing at Pickett, sparking what would become a massive brawl. 

"This man just put his hand on me. I was like… it's my job, but I'm still defending myself at the same time. So, when he touched me, I was like, 'It's on,'" Pickett told ABC. 

Bystanders intervene and attempt to break up the fight. (Christa)

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"I was still trying to get that boat in while the fight was going on. I was still telling the captain we got to get these folks here safely to this dock," he added. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Greg Norman is a reporter at Fox News Digital.

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Two punished for roles in wild alabama riverboat brawl sparked by attack on captain.

Two participants in the Alabama boat-dock brawl that went viral around the globe this past summer have been sentenced — one to jail and the other to anger-management classes.

Richard Roberts, 48 who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor assault rap for his role in the violent fracas, was ordered to serve 32 days behind bars along with 100 hours of community service. He will also have to pay court costs.

Mary Todd, 21, copped to a misdemeanor harassment charge and will enroll in anger-management courses as part of a plea deal. She will also be on the hook for court costs related to her case.

Three additional defendants — Allen Todd, 24, Zachary Shipman, 26, and Reggie Ray, 42 — have yet to resolve their cases.

Todd and Shipman were hit with third-degree assault charges, while Ray — who used a folding chair during the fight — faces a disorderly conduct rap.

The melee was sparked when a tourist riverboat carrying 227 passengers was unable to dock in August because a private pontoon boat was parked in its space, Montgomery cops said at the time.

The riverboat’s co-captain, Damien Pickett, asked over a public-address system for the occupants of the pontoon boat to move but was blown off with profanity and obscene gestures.

Pickett was then ferried to the dock in an attempt to speak to the pontoon boat’s passengers in person and was attacked after further words were exchanged.

Several of Pickett’s co-workers on the riverboat jumped to his defense as stunned onlookers watched the brawl deteriorate, with bystanders joining the fray.

A witness told police that the occupants of the pontoon boat used racial slurs during the assault against Pickett, who is black.

But prosecutors declined to hit the assailants with hate-crime raps, and Pickett himself told investigators that he didn’t believe race played a role in the incident.

A white teen dock worker who accompanied Pickett during his attempt to speak to the boat’s passengers was also beaten, officials noted.

“It’s important for us to understand that there was a young white dock worker or someone who worked on the boat who also tried to help and who was attacked as well,” Montgomery mayor Steven Reed said after the footage went viral.

The city’s police chief, who is black, said the case was thoroughly vetted.

“Knowing Montgomery’s history, knowing all the civil-rights things that we went through here in the city of Montgomery and what the means to the nation, we were very amped-up to get this right,” Chief Darryl Albert said.

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Nbc news now, alabama riverfront brawl witness reacts to fight.

A fight between two boating groups on the riverfront in Alabama turned into an all out brawl that went viral on social media. Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed said the fight never should have happened.  Aug. 7, 2023

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Alabama riverfront melee: 5th suspect turns himself in, police say

The alleged assault on a ferry co-captain led to a brawl at Riverfront Park.

Police say a fifth suspect in the Riverfront Park melee turned himself in on Friday, nearly a week after the large physical altercation in Montgomery, Alabama.

Charges were originally filed against three white boaters who allegedly assaulted a Black ferry co-captain on Saturday. Two more people have since been charged in connection with the incident.

The latest -- 42-year-old Reggie Ray -- turned himself in to police on Friday and was charged with disorderly conduct, police said. He is currently housed in the municipal jail.

An attorney for Ray, who is Black, told ABC News his client was "involuntarily roped into the disorderly conduct initiated by a violent white mob."

"Mr. Ray will continue to participate with the ongoing investigation concerning the same and is committed to be forthcoming about his limited role in the brawl," the attorney, Lee Merritt, said in a statement.

Ray's arrest follows that of 21-year-old Mary Todd, who was booked and charged with one count of assault in the third degree on Thursday, according to the Montgomery Police Department.

Two other suspects turned themselves in to Montgomery Police Department on Wednesday, the department said. Allen Todd, 23, and Zachery Shipman, 25, are each being charged with one count of assault in the third degree, which is a misdemeanor, police said.

Another suspect, Richard Roberts, a 48-year-old white male, was first to turn himself in on Tuesday after charges were filed, police told ABC News. Roberts was charged with two counts of third-degree assault.

Montgomery Police Department Chief Darryl Albert identified the victim as Harriet II co-captain Dameion Pickett, a Black male. He also mentioned an unnamed 16-year-old white male who was allegedly struck by the owners and operators of a private boat that was blocking the riverboat from docking.

According to videos captured by bystanders and obtained by ABC News, the fight appeared to begin after a white man punched Pickett. Several other white individuals joined the altercation, which seemed to set off a brawl between those individuals, Pickett and bystanders. Other videos captured by onlookers show that bystanders joined the brawl in an apparent attempt to defend the co-captain, with one man seen swimming to the dock from a riverboat.

Albert also said that police are seeking further interviews with a man who was allegedly seen in bystander videos wielding a folding chair.

MORE: Arrest warrants issued after boaters attack dock employee at Montgomery riverbank

Asked if there's any evidence of a hate crime, Albert said that police "looked at every avenue" and left "no stone unturned," but "were unable to present any insight in a riot or racial racially biased charges at this time."

The charges came after police issued four arrest warrants related to the incident and told ABC News in a statement on Monday that additional arrests could come as police continue to review video evidence of the incident.

Police said officers responded to a disturbance at Riverfront Park around 7 p.m. Saturday, where they found a large group of people engaged in a physical altercation and several were detained at the scene.

According to a witness who captured video of the incident, the assault and subsequent brawl came amid a reported dispute over a pontoon boat that was blocking a space of a riverboat.

The witness, Christa Owen, told ABC News Monday that she was on a dinner cruise on the riverboat with her 12-year-old daughter when the incident occurred. She said that after the owners of the pontoon boat were asked multiple times to move the boat they "refused," so a crew member got off the boat and tried to move the pontoon boat himself.

"The black pontoon boat parked where the ferry parks. They wouldn't move when we were trying to pull in. It seems what these guys wanted trumped what a couple hundred people on a stranded ferry needed," Owen said, adding that prior to the brawl, the people on her boat repeatedly asked the people on the pontoon boat to move.

She added, "They just looked at us, decided not to [move the pontoon boat], shrugged their shoulders and left. That's when a crewman disembarked onto a small boat to the dock to do it."

Owen said a couple of hundred people were "stranded on water" until the pontoon boat was moved.

ABC News' Ben Stein, Kerem Inal and Armando Garcia contributed to this report.

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Alabama boat fight: Wild new footage emerges from brawl between Harriot II Riverboat crew and white pleasure craft owners

• New footage shows how the viral Alabama riverboat clash started over a boat owner refusing to let the passenger vessel dock
• A worker from the Harriott II Riverboat had to make his way to the dock to untie the boat when a full scale riot broke out in Montgomery, Alabama 
• The fight is under investigation by local police as they comb through multiple videos provided by the public, with the Mayor saying people will face justice

By Joe Hutchison For Dailymail.Com

Published: 02:08 EDT, 7 August 2023 | Updated: 03:30 EDT, 7 August 2023

View comments

Wild new footage has shed light on the mass brawl between black cruise staff and white pleasure craft owners on an Alabama dock, with a man heard on loudspeaker saying 'don't f**k with the riverboat crew.' 

The large group of people had been returning to the dock after spending time on the Harriott II Riverboat in Montgomery, Alabama. 

After making it back however, the space reserved for them had been taken over by a boat owner who parked his vessel and left it. 

The riverboat sent a staff member to the dock to untie the smaller vessel so those onboard could return to land, when the fight ensues. 

After the riverboat crew made it back to the dock, the fighting continued which resulted in one woman being thrown into the water

Police moved in and made arrests on the scene, with the Mayor of Montgomery saying those responsible will be held accountable

The riverboat 'hero' - who was the first to try and get the pontoon boat owners to move - was later spotted celebrating as his opponent was led away by cops

In the new video, a woman on the riverboat narrates what has happened prior to the camera rolling. 

'The man in white is crew from our cruise who got off our ship to go over there to move that black pontoon boat because those guys who parked there were told not to leave it there,' she says.

'He's just pushing it off, that is funny. Taking matters into his own hands.'

In the background, those onboard the riverboat can be heard encouraging the worker and after the pontoon boat owner arrives starting shouting for him to 'kick his a**'.

On the dock, a group of men are seen crowding round the black dock worker who is being cheered on by those aboard the riverboat. 

Those onboard the riverboat then hilariously break out into the Ludacris song 'Move B**ch', singing 'move b**ch, get out the way' on repeat. 

The worker and the pontoon owner continue to go back and forth before the worker is pushed by one man. 

In a flamboyant gesture, the black man flings off his cap into a watching crowd above.

Chaotic video taken from on board the Harriott II shows brawlers throwing punches on the pontoon below 

The boat worker had to make it back to land after another boat, pictured here, had taken their space at the dock

Despite police now being on the scene, workers from the riverboat and those onboard the private boat continued to battle it out 

Scenes quickly turn sour as the  pair exchange blows before another white man in red shorts tackles the black man to the floor, before several others join the fray.

Some appear to be trying to break up the fight, while others also throw punches.

Those onboard the riverboat scream in horror as the man is frequently punched before others step in to help. 

One man is even seen swimming across from the other side of the river to join the fracas. 

In separate footage, a group of men and workers from the riverboat then reach the dock and a full scale brawl breaks out. 

At one point, a white woman is thrown into the water with her assailant egged on by those filming the fight. 

Another woman is also hit over the head with a chair while two men exchange punches to the head, before one gouges the other’s eye.   

A baying crowd expresses a mixture of horror and delight at the disturbing scenes unfolding in front of them.

Another POV of the brawl that took place at Riverfront Park in Montgomery, Alabama. pic.twitter.com/ekclNaSRoo — BoreCure (@CureBore) August 6, 2023

The hat-flinging invites a punch to the head from the shirtless man, sparking ugly scenes

A man in red shorts charges into the action and tackles the black man to the floor as others join

The altercation is under investigation by local police as they comb through multiple videos provided by the public

One man can be seen smashing another man over the head with a chair as he tries to escape

The same man is later seen smashing a woman the head with a chair as she sits on the floor

In another angle of the brawl, the announcer onboard the riverboat can be heard saying: 'Please check the guys in the water, two guys are in the water behind the dock. Make sure nobody drowns.

He then hilariously quips: 'FYI, in the future don't f**k with the riverboat crew.'

Photos shared on social media appear to show a group of white men sitting on the boardwalk in handcuffs after the riot, with others being led away from the scene by officers.

The altercation is under investigation by local police as they comb through multiple videos provided by the public, as well as the City of Montgomery’s video surveillance.

Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed said: 'The Montgomery Police Department acted swiftly to detain several reckless individuals for attacking a man who was doing his job.

'Warrants are being signed and justice will be served. This was an unfortunate incident which never should have occurred.

The worker who had first been assaulted by the group of men is seen here being led away by several woman, who appear to have also been working on the boat having 

The worker had been onboard the Harriot II Riverboat in Montgomery, Alabama, when he decided to untie a boat blocking them from docking

Pictures shared on social media from after the fight show a woman with her hands behind her back being led away from the Alabama riverfront by a cop

Pictures shared on social media from after the fight show men and women on the boardwalk in handcuffs. Montgomery police said multiple arrests have been made

'As our police department investigates these intolerable actions, we should not become desensitized to violence of any kind in our community. 

'Those who choose violent actions will be held accountable by our criminal justice system.'

Share or comment on this article: Alabama boat fight: Wild new footage emerges from brawl between Harriot II Riverboat crew and white pleasure craft owners

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How did the superyacht carrying tech tycoon Mike Lynch sink off Sicily?

Lynch’s was among five bodies retrieved by divers on Wednesday after the Bayesian sank, according to reports.

Five bodies were retrieved on Wednesday, and a sixth on Friday , by divers searching for those missing from the superyacht which sank off the Sicilian coast in the Mediterranean. The bodies found include British tech tycoon Mike Lynch , the UK’s Telegraph reported. The bodies have not been formally identified by the authorities yet.

It is understood that they were retrieved from inside the sunken yacht, which is reported to be lying on its side on the sea bed at a depth of 50 metres

Keep reading

One dead, six missing after luxury superyacht capsizes off sicily coast, luxury yacht sinks off sicilian coast, uk extradites autonomy co-founder mike lynch to us, how serious are the wildfires near athens, greece.

This brings the total death toll to seven; one person, reported to be the chef from the yacht, was confirmed dead on Monday.

The yacht capsized on Monday at about 5am (03:00 GMT) after it was hit by stormy weather caused by a “waterspout” – or mini tornado – according to Italian authorities.

The cruise had reportedly been undertaken to celebrate the acquittal of Lynch in a fraud trial in the United States in June.

His co-defendant in the trial, Steve Chamberlain, who was also acquitted in June, was killed after being hit by a car on Saturday.

Here’s what is known so far about the yacht, those on board and who died or were still missing after it sank.

Who was on the superyacht which sank?

According to the Italian coastguard, the 56-metre-long (184 feet) British-flagged yacht, called the Bayesian, was carrying 22 people, including 10 crew members.

One person has been confirmed dead after rescuers located a body on Monday at a depth of about 50 metres (164 feet), the AFP news agency reported. Officials have not yet given the name of the deceased but Italian media reported that he was the yacht’s chef.

AFP reported on Tuesday that divers had spotted a second body inside the sunk boat, quoting a source close to the search operation. Authorities have not confirmed it yet, though.

While not all the names of the six missing passengers were not made public officially, they were understood to include:

• Mike Lynch, 59, a British-Irish technology businessman who co-founded British tech company Autonomy in 1996 and was once likened to Microsoft founder Bill Gates; he earned a PhD from Cambridge University
• Hannah Lynch, 18, Mike’s daughter, who had just completed her final school exams and was due to begin a degree in English at the University of Oxford this September
• Jonathan Bloomer, the 70-year-old British chairman of Morgan Stanley bank and the Hiscox insurance company, was confirmed as missing by Hiscox CEO Aki Hussain
• Judy Bloomer, Jonathan’s wife, was also confirmed as missing by Hussain
• Chris Morvillo, from British international law firm Clifford Chance, was confirmed to be missing by Salvatore Cocina, head of the Civil Protection in Sicily

Fifteen people, including Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, were rescued. Among others rescued were Charlotte Golunski, 36, a board director at Luminance, a software startup founded by Lynch; her husband, James; and their one-year-old daughter, Sophie. Golunski is understood to have kept her daughter alive by holding her above her head while she was in the water.

All those rescued are in stable condition, although eight of them have been hospitalised, according to Italian news agency Adnkronos.

What do we know about the Bayesian?

Italian shipbuilder Perini Navi constructed the superyacht in 2008 and refitted it in 2020, according to the company’s website.

The yacht’s owner is listed as Revtom Limited, a firm solely owned by Lynch’s wife, Bacares, according to company documents seen by the Reuters news agency.

It was formerly called Salute but was renamed Bayesian after Lynch’s PhD thesis and his software that earned him a fortune. Both of these were based on the statistical Bayesian theory, championed by mathematician Thomas Bayes.

Where was the Bayesian last seen and where was it going?

The Bayesian was last located on Sunday evening in the Tyrrhenian Sea, east of the harbour at Porticello, according to ship tracking websites Vessel Finder and Marine Traffic.

Porticello is a port city located near the Sicilian capital, Palermo.

The yacht had departed on August 14 from the Sicilian port of Milazzo. Its destination was reported to be the Italian city of Bagheria by the tracking websites.

Did a waterspout cause the yacht to sink?

Italian authorities reported that the stormy conditions that caused the yacht to sink were triggered by a waterspout.

A waterspout is a rotating column of whirling air and water mist – sometimes referred to as a mini tornado – according to the website of the US National Ocean Service.

The website adds that a tornadic waterspout is a tornado that forms over water or moves from land to water. They are similar to land tornadoes and can occur during thunderstorms.

Who is Stephen Chamberlain and how is he connected to this case?

Chamberlain, 52, was Lynch’s co-defendant in a fraud trial in San Francisco, which saw both men acquitted in June.

Chamberlain died in a hospital from injuries sustained when he was hit by a car while out running in Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom, on Saturday. His death was confirmed by his lawyer Gary Lincenberg in a statement on Monday.

The fraud case related to Hewlett Packard’s $11bn acquisition of Autonomy, the firm Lynch grew into the UK’s leading tech company before it spectacularly unravelled after being bought by HP in 2011.

Lynch was extradited to the US in May 2023 and he spent more than a year under house arrest before his acquittal. Chamberlain was the former vice president of finance at Autonomy.

The yacht trip was supposedly a celebration of Lynch’s acquittal.

How did the rescue operation unfold?

Specialist divers began a search anew for the six missing people on Tuesday. Three divers, equipped with oxygen cylinders, descended beneath the surface to examine the wreck.

They initially faced difficulty accessing the yacht’s chambers because they were constricted by furniture.

An investigation into the wreck has been opened by prosecutors in the nearby Sicilian town of Termini Imerese.

What have survivors and witnesses said about the incident?

“It was terrible. The boat was hit by really strong wind and shortly after it went down,” survivor Golunski told the ANSA news agency.

She added that she had lost hold of her one-year-old daughter in the water for “two seconds”, but then managed to grab her and hold her up over the waves until a lifeboat inflated and they were both pulled to safety. She reported that people were screaming.

Karsten Borner, a captain of a nearby yacht who witnessed the sinking, said he had turned on the engine of his ship to prevent collision with the Bayesian. “We managed to keep the ship in position and after the storm was over, we noticed that the ship behind us was gone,” he told reporters.

Bloomer’s wife, Judy, is a trustee of the Eve Appeal, a UK-based gynaecological cancer research charity. Athena Lamnisos, the CEO of the Eve Appeal, was quoted by the BBC saying she was “deeply shocked to hear the news that our very dear friend and her husband Jonathan, are among those missing”.

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Search Resumes for British Mogul and 5 Others After Yacht Sinks Off Sicily

The body of the vessel’s cook was recovered while divers searched the hull of the Bayesian for passengers, including the tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch.

• Share full article

By Elisabetta Povoledo

Deep-sea divers with Italy’s firefighter corps resumed their search on Tuesday for six missing passengers — including a British software mogul and his daughter — of a yacht that sank off the coast of Sicily the previous day.

Twenty-two people were on board the 180-foot British-flagged sailing yacht, the Bayesian, which was anchored near the port of Porticello, when it was hit by what witnesses described as a waterspout, a small tornado on water, during a sudden and violent storm.

Fifteen people who managed to get to a raft were rescued by the captain of a nearby sailing cruise ship. The body of the yacht’s cook, identified by news outlets as Recaldo Thomas, a Canadian Antiguan, was recovered on Monday. But several people are still unaccounted for, according to Salvatore Cocina, an official with Sicily’s civil protection agency.

Those still missing are Mike Lynch, a British technology entrepreneur; his daughter Hannah; Jonathan Bloomer, chairman of Morgan Stanley International; his wife, Judy Bloomer; Christopher J. Morvillo, a lawyer at Clifford Chance; and his wife, Neda Morvillo.

Mr. Lynch was acquitted of fraud in a U.S. trial in June, ending a high-profile, decadelong legal battle against accusations that he had defrauded Hewlett-Packard when he sold his company, Autonomy, to Hewlett for $11 billion.

Mr. Lynch and the others went missing days after Mr. Lynch’s co-defendant at the fraud trial, Stephen Chamberlain, a former vice president of finance at Autonomy, was fatally struck by a car on Saturday while out for a run, his lawyer, Gary S. Lincenberg, said in a statement.

Prosecutors in the Italian city of Termini Imerese, east of where the yacht sank, are opening a formal investigation into the yacht’s sinking. Reached by telephone, the chief prosecutor declined to comment.

The search for the missing passengers began on Monday but was suspended late that night as crews found themselves limited to the bridge deck and items like furnishings “obstructing passage,” the firefighters’ corps wrote on social media .

When divers resumed the search on Tuesday, ships trawled the waters near the site, the corps said in a statement. The Italian Coast Guard also said in a statement that search operations were “continuing unabated,” with the deployment of helicopters. There was no evidence that gasoline was leaking from the yacht, the Coast Guard said.

The yacht was lying on its right side in about 165 feet of water, meaning that divers, working in pairs, could stay underwater for only about 12 minutes at a time, said Luca Cari, a spokesman for the firefighters’ corps.

Divers were seeking a safe point of access to the vessel’s cabins. “Obviously, everything fell and the space is very tight,” Mr. Cari said, adding that the divers were having to remove obstacles, like furnishings and electrical wiring, that were “completely blocking passages.”

The firefighters’ corps said in a statement that it was impossible to verify whether people were inside the hull.

Mr. Cari said that several divers had been part of the search-and-rescue operations when the Costa Concordia, a cruise liner, capsized off the Tuscan island of Giglio in 2012, killing 32 people. It is considered one of the worst maritime disasters in modern Italian history.

“It’s like the Costa Concordia, but much smaller,” Mr. Cari said in a telephone interview, comparing the search operations. “In the Costa Concordia, we came across many obstacles but we somehow were able to overcome them. Here, the obstacles block the passages and have to be removed.” He added, “This makes it more difficult.”

Crews were also trying to raise the yacht, which experts will examine to try to determine why it sank. Until then, experts can only hypothesize what happened.

Karsten Borner, the captain of a ship, the Sir Robert Baden Powell, which picked up the Bayesian’s 15 survivors, said in an interview that when the wind picked up around 4 a.m. Monday, the Bayesian was about 490 feet behind his vessel. Once the wind wound down, he said, he could not see the yacht anymore.

“My theory was that she was capsized first and then went down over the stern,” Mr. Borner said.

Dario Boote, a ship structures and naval architecture professor at the University of Genoa, said: “Now I imagine that a whole series of lawsuits will be triggered, obviously to ascertain whether there is any responsibility, as always happens very unpleasantly in these situations.” He said, however, that in this case, responsibility might be hard to determine. “Clearly, only once the wreck is raised will we know more,” he added.

Several fishermen told Italian news outlets that they had witnessed a waterspout. Peter Inness, a meteorologist at the University of Reading, said they were relatively common in the Mediterranean, though their occurrence and intensity are unpredictable.

“Until one actually forms, you can’t start telling people where it is,” Mr. Inness said, or “how to get out of the way.”

The inclement weather — with lightning intermittently streaking through the sky — made it hard to know exactly why the yacht sank. Col. Attilio Di Diodato, director of the Italian Air Force’s Center for Aerospace Meteorology and Climatology, said the agency had registered intense lightning activity and strong gusts of wind in the area at the time the boat sank.

The Bayesian had one of the tallest aluminum masts in the world, according to its builder, Perini Navi. “Having a tall aluminum mast would not make it the safest port to be in case of a storm,” said Andrea Ratti, associate professor of nautical design and architecture technology the Politecnico di Milano. The type of intensity unleashed by a violent lightning storm “could have created a significant shock wave,” he added.

He, too, cautioned that “a lot of questions will remain until we have other elements at our disposal.”

Modern yachts are built to withstand meteorological events of reasonable intensity, and all international naval registers suggest that new ships be designed for higher waves and more frequent and extreme weather events.

But “this seems a case of an unreasonable extreme event,” said Emilio Fortunato Campana, an expert in Naval Hydrodynamics at Italy’s National Research Council. “In that case, no ship is 100 percent safe,” he added. “I think the Titanic showed that nothing is unsinkable.”

Elisabetta Povoledo is a reporter based in Rome, covering Italy, the Vatican and the culture of the region. She has been a journalist for 35 years. More about Elisabetta Povoledo

13 dead after boat capsized off Yemen, migration agency says

At least 13 people have died and 14 remain missing after a boat capsized off Yemen last Tuesday, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said on Sunday.

The migrant boat, carrying 25 Ethiopians and two Yemenis, had been sailing off the coast of Yemen's Taiz governate in the southwest, the IOM said.

The bodies of the deceased, 11 men and two women, were recovered along the shores of Bab al-Mandab Strait, one of the world's most important sea routes for global commodity shipments.

Search operations were continuing in the hopes of locating those who were missing, which included the Yemeni captain and his assistant, said the report, adding it wasn't clear what had caused the vessel to sink.

In July, a boat with at least 45 refugees capsized off the coast of Taiz and there were only four survivors.

The IOM, which runs a tally of migrants killed or missing on migration routes, has recorded 2,082 migrant deaths and disappearances along the route running from East Africa and the Horn of Africa to Gulf countries since 2014.

Reuters 

At least three migrants drown in river between Serbia and Bosnia

Volunteers help migrants reverse water trauma in spain's canaries, cruise ship rescues 68 migrants heading for spain's canaries, six dead.

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