Yacht insurer OMAC is hull carrier for yacht sunk off Sicily, sources say

Yacht insurance provider OMAC is the hull carrier for Bayesian, a 56-metre-long (184 ft) sailboat that was hit by a ferocious storm on Monday, sinking off the northern coast of Sicily, two sources who know the thing said.

Syndicates providing insurance include Travelers Companies Inc., Navium Marine and Convex, while British Marine is the provider of protection and indemnity (P&I) insurance, the sources said.

Reuters could not determine the value of the yacht or what potential claims might be worth.

Divers recover bodies from sunken Mike Lynch yacht off Sicily

Ships usually have P&I insurance, which covers liability claims, including environmental damage and injury. Separate hull and machinery policies cover vessels against physical damage.

Convex declined to comment, while OMAC, Travelers, Navium and British Marine did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.

The British-flagged superyacht was carrying 22 people and was anchored off Porticello harbor when it was hit by a fierce storm before dawn on Monday. Fifteen people managed to escape the yacht before it capsized.

Four bodies were found aboard the sunken wreckage of the yacht belonging to the wife of British tech tycoon Mike Lynch on Wednesday, sources close to the rescue operation told Reuters.

The global yacht insurance market has faced significant challenges in recent years, largely due to natural disasters such as Hurricane Maria in 2017 and Hurricane Ian in 2022, which devastated numerous charter bases and hundreds of yachts.

In response, insurers have raised rates and reassessed their guidelines and risk appetite. Insured losses in the market came mostly from hurricanes, severe storms, floods and other weather events in North America, the Caribbean and Europe, according to a report from broker Marsh.

(Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain and Manya Saini in Bengaluru; Editing by Michelle Price and Sandra Maler)

Photo: Italian firefighters and divers are docked in the port of Porticello, southern Italy, Tuesday, August 20, 2024, as rescue teams returned to the site of a superyacht sunk by a storm to search for six people, including British tech tycoon Mike Lynch , believed to be still trapped in the hull 50 meters (164 ft) underwater. (AP Photo/Salvatore Cavalli)

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