“We saw the mast break and then I and…” The first words of Karsten Börner, the captain of the boat that sank in Palermo

Captain Karsten Börner’s story of the sinking of the Palermo boat.

There is no talk of anything other than the sinking of the British boat that unfortunately fell victim to the storm in Palermo a few hours ago. The captain tells what he experienced first-hand Karsten Bornerwho described the fall of the mainmast.

Here are his words.

Drama in Sicily: the story of Karsten Börner

Karsten Borner, the commander of the Dutch ship Sir Robert Baden-Powell, he told of the atrocity of what happened a few hours ago off the coast of Little bridgenear Palermo. It is right here that a British boat was hit by a whirlwind sudden which caused it to sink.

This man’s role was fundamental in the whole affair. The captain said that the intention was to return to the nearest port because of the bad weatherbut everything changed when they saw another boat sink. This storm had in fact involved several ships and the captain and the entire crew thought of offering their help before it was too late.

We were planning to go to the Arenella port in Palermo, but we were hit by a storm. We realized that the boat next to ours was gone. We saw a red flare, so my first mate and I got on the tender and went to help. Later, the Coast Guard units also arrived.

Captain saves 15 castaways including a little girl

This downpour shocked everyone, but it did not prevent the captain to act to try to save the highest number of victims. Thanks to his intervention, in fact, well 15 castaways they did not lose their lives and among them there is also a girl very small.

The seaman, considered by all to be a hero for what he did, cannot forget the drama of what happened, which is why he spoke of how the main mast it broke due to the violence of the bad weather.

The wind was very strong. I saw the mainmast of the 72-meter tall sailing ship bend, break and fall into the water in a few moments. We saved 15 shipwrecked people, but when we returned there was no one left in the water.

For this reason several cave divers from the Fire Brigade arrived in the area of ​​the accident in order to reach the hull of the boat and recover the bodies of those who, unfortunately, remained trapped in the now sunken vessel.