The British mother who says she held her baby daughter above the waves as the yacht sank near Sicily was sleeping on deck as the storm hit, an Italian doctor has said.
Charlotte Golunski was among 22 people on board the Bayesian when a tornado struck on Monday morning, with one dead and another six still missing.
Ms Golunski, 35, survived along with 14 others, revealing to Italian newspaper la Repubblica she held her daughter Sofia “afloat with all [her] strength”.
Speaking to Sky News correspondent Ashna Hurynag, the head of paediatric care at the Di Cristina Children’s Hospital in Palermo said Ms Golunski was away from her partner at the time of the storm.
“She said that she was sleeping with the child on deck while her husband was a little further away in another part of the boat and she felt the oscillations of the ship,” Dr Domenico Cipolla said.
“In an instant it was dark and she found herself in the water in just a few minutes. She said she tried to hold on to the child but lost the child from her grip for three seconds.
“She then managed to catch her in the water.”
CCTV shows moment before yacht sinks
While she was rescued with only a number of bruises along with her partner and father of her child James Emsley, Ms Golunski was “very sad” for those still missing.
Mr Emsley was treated at another hospital and when they were reunited they “hugged and comforted each other” – but “cried” for the people left behind.
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“The little girl was crying, she was very disoriented, she looked around and her mother was very sad and worried, especially for her husband who was in another hospital,” Dr Cipolla said, adding the baby was unhurt.
“She wanted to know if everything was OK and asked after the missing people because nobody knew what happened to them.
“She was crying. She was very sad, she kept asking us about her husband and the others.”
As the search enters a “critical” 24 hours, divers have just 10 minutes for each swim, which is made more complicated by the yacht’s narrow interior.
The ship’s chef, Canadian-Antiguan Recaldo Thomas, has been confirmed dead.
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