A Long Island grandmother whose son went missing after their yacht sank is distraught but hopeful after learning her granddaughters were nearly victims of the horrific tragedy.
Cathy Morvillo, whose son Christopher Morvillo was aboard the Bayesian sailing ship that sank off the coast of Sicily, waited for good news as searchers tried to reach the sunken vessel.
“Cathy is upset and still hopes they are alive,” a neighbor told DailyMail.com on Tuesday.
Another neighbor called what happened “a tragedy” and said the Morvillo family were “kind, nice, the nicest people you’ll ever meet.”
“It’s heartbreaking. We’re waiting with bated breath,” the person said. “They’re a wonderful family and we’re all grieving with them. His mother still has hope that there’s a chance her son and daughter-in-law are alive.”
Christopher Morvillo and his wife Neda were aboard the Bayesian sailboat when a waterspout struck nearby Monday morning, destroying the vessel and causing it to sink quickly.
Morvillo is a prominent New York City attorney and lives in his $2.3 million Connecticut mansion with his two daughters, Sophie and Sabrina, both seen here.
Christopher Morvillo is a prominent New York City attorney who lives in his $2.3 million Connecticut home with his wife Neda and their two daughters, Sophie and Sabrina.
According to fellow attorney David Oscar Markus, Sophie and Sabrina were supposed to fly to Italy to spend time on the luxury boat.
“He was so excited about the trip,” Markus wrote in a blog post after discovering Morvillo was missing.
“He couldn’t wait for his daughters to meet him and his wife. I’m so thankful the girls hadn’t arrived yet when this tragedy happened.”
Morvillo represented British tech billionaire Mike Lynch in a financial fraud trial earlier this year in the US. Lynch, who owned the ship, was also on board.
They were all celebrating their major legal victory when a waterspout swept through the area on Monday morning, destroying the ship and causing it to quickly sink.
The luxury sailing ship Bayesian was moored off the coast of Porticello when a waterspout hit the area at around 5am on Monday
Of the 22 people on board, 15 were rescued, but the yacht’s cook tragically died. Six people, including the couple, are still missing and are believed to be trapped in their cabins.
A spokesperson for Morvillo’s law firm said PEOPLE: ‘We are shocked and deeply saddened by this tragic incident.
‘Our thoughts are with our partner, Christopher Morvillo, and his wife Neda, who are among the missing, and with their families.
According to his biography, Morvillo has extensive legal experience and has worked as a federal prosecutor.
His work included the Lynch fraud trial and the criminal investigation into the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
According to a biography of Morvillo, he has extensive legal experience and has worked as a federal prosecutor. His Connecticut home is shown here
Emergency and rescue workers work at a port near the site where a luxury yacht sank, in Porticello, near the Sicilian city of Palermo, Italy, August 20
His wife Neda is described by other news organizations, including the BBC, as a jewelry designer.
Among the missing are Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter Hannah and Jonathan Bloomer, chairman of Morgan Stanley International Bank, and his wife Judy.
Lynch had invited family and friends to the yacht to celebrate his “second life” after being acquitted of all charges in a US fraud trial.
In an extraordinary twist, his co-defendant Stephen Chamberlain, who was also acquitted of the charges, has died after being hit by a car while jogging in England over the weekend.
Two months before the superyacht sank, Morvillo shared glowing comments about Lynch and his colleagues after they managed to free the pair.
In a LinkedIn post, he praised the “superstar lawyers” for “making this mammoth task manageable even in the darkest hours.”
He also thanked his “patient and incredible wife” and two daughters for their love and support.
He concluded his message in a haunting manner: “And they lived happily ever after.”
Meanwhile, the rescue mission for the couple and those who have not yet been recovered continues.
Divers attempting to locate the six missing passengers succeeded with the help of a local blacksmith with experience in working with boats, through a 3 cm thick porthole.
The blacksmith made special jacks for the divers, which they used to enter the ship’s hull and communal areas through the glass window on Tuesday.
According to Italian media, they have not yet reached the huts due to obstacles.
According to an engineer, the missing passengers could still be alive in air pockets 50 meters below the surface. This means that divers, who can only stay underwater for ten minutes per dive due to the depth of the wreck, are in a race against time.
Divers on site during the search for the missing sailboat in Porticello, Italy, today
Engineer Nick Sloane, who led the salvage operation for the Costa Concordia, has claimed there is a possibility that survivors are trapped in air pockets in the sunken vessel.
Nick Sloane, who worked on the Costa Concordia salvage operation, said divers face a “critical” 24-hour period to rescue anyone still alive.
The Italian coastguard continues to insist it will continue the search, even though a positive outcome is “difficult to imagine” after almost two days.
“They have a very short time to find people who are trapped on the plane, hopefully with an air bubble, and then they can be rescued,” Sloane told Sky News.
“You have a maximum of two to three days to free someone, so the next 24 hours are crucial.”
Divers from Naples and Messina are helping with the large-scale search, which is becoming even bigger due to the obstacles.
A helicopter was seen over Porticello on Tuesday afternoon, while an underwater vehicle helped divers search for missing passengers.
Italian rescue workers are using a remotely controlled underwater vehicle in their search.
The Coast Guard said in a statement that five patrol cars, a helicopter and divers had been working since early Tuesday morning.
Despite the glimmer of hope, Italian coastguard officials admit they are convinced that the six people still missing are dead and that their bodies are in the wreckage.
According to nautical experts, the ship is believed to have sunk after its mast, one of the world’s tallest at 75 metres, snapped and capsized during the horrific incident, causing the hull to become larger than the ‘downward angle’.
