Survivor of Yacht That Sank Off Sicily’s Coast Recalls How She Used ‘All My Strength’ to Save Her 1-Year-Old

[Pelican Press 0]

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

Survivor of Yacht That Sank Off Sicily’s Coast Recalls How She Used ‘All My Strength’ to Save Her 1-Year-Old

“I held her afloat … my arms stretched upwards to keep her from drowning,” Charlotte Golunski said

Charlotte Golunski/

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

Charlotte Golunski" fifu-data-src="https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/bRuI.1D939BaocqwfbFlOw--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTY0MA--/https://media.zenfs.com/en/people_218/bf20e9a74ffda38cebeb9e85b6efa83f">data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==

Charlotte Golunski/

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

Charlotte Golunski

A mom aboard

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

off the coast of Sicily this week is speaking out about how she was able to save her young daughter from being swept away by the water.

The mother was identified to PEOPLE by local authorities as Charlotte Golunski — who, along with her partner, was so shocked about how bad the weather had gotten that they went above board just before disaster struck the Bayesian early on Monday, Aug. 19, the sources say.

After going into the water, Golunski lost her grip on her 1-year-old daughter, Sophie, when a wave smashed against them, taking the child out to sea, according to the local sources.

The same wave returned the girl a short time later in what was described as something of a miracle.

In an interview with Italian newspaper

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

, Golunski said that she briefly lost her daughter for about two seconds due to the intensity of the sea but was then was able to retrieve the child. 

“I held her afloat with all my strength, my arms stretched upwards to keep her from drowning,” Golunski told the newspaper, according to a translation.

Related:

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

She added: “It was all dark. In the water I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I screamed for help but all I could hear around me was the screams of others.”

The Italian coast guard said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE that the Bayesian, a 56-meter yacht flying the U.K. flag, sank near Poritcello around 5 a.m., local time on Monday after the storm.

According to Italian news service ANSA, Golunski and her child were safely rescued via a lifeboat, per

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

.

Salvo Cocina, an official with Sicily’s civil protection agency, said that the baby’s father, James Emsley, survived the incident, according to Sky News.

Never miss a story — sign up for

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. 

data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==

Vincenzo Pepe/Getty

A carabinieri vehicle parked near the harbor where the search continues for missing passengers after a yacht capsized on August 19, 2024 off the coast of Palermo, Italy

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

reported that a doctor with the hospital in Palermo where Sophie and her mother were taken in, Domenico Cipolla, said, “The baby is doing well. The mother is also in good condition, albeit with some minor abrasions. The father will also be discharged from the hospital soon.”

BBC News reported that Golunski is a colleague of Mike ******, the British tech entrepreneur who is one of the people — including his 18-year-old daughter Hannah —

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

following the sinking of the 184-foot yacht.

Also among the disappeared are two Americans.

******’s wife, Angela Bacares, was one of 15 people saved out of a total of 22 who were originally aboard the Bayesian, the Italian coast guard and local sources said. Eight of the rescued were taken to local hospitals

Related:

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

According to Italian media outlets, a man’s body was found after the sinking and later identified as the yacht’s chef, per

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

.

Witnesses said the yacht was moored in front of a port in Porticello when the storm hit, the local newspaper

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

reported.

“That boat was all lit up,” a man in Porticello told the outlet. “At about 4:30 in the morning it was gone. A beautiful boat where there had been a party. A normal day of vacation spent happily at sea turned into a tragedy.”

Search and rescue efforts continue, the coast guard said, as does an investigation into the incident.

For more People news, make sure to

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

Read the original article on

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

.

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

#Survivor #Yacht #Sank #Sicilys #Coast #Recalls #Strength #Save #1YearOld

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up