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Fabio La Bianca, who owns the local BAIA Santa Nicolicchia restaurant, told ABC News that he noticed the moored vessel had disappeared when he went to check on storm damage to his business.

\"After half an hour with the other guys we realized that it was no longer there and immediately the rescuers were going around to look for the missing, they had also launched two distress rockets in the air before,\" La Bianca said.

Local Mayor Giuseppe D'Agostino wrote on Facebook that the \"tragedy that struck our community is unparalleled in history.\"

\"PHOTO:
Igor Petyx/Reuters
PHOTO: Emergency and rescue services work near the scene where a sailboat sank in the early hours of Monday, off the coast of Porticello, near the Sicilian city of Palermo, Italy, Aug. 19, 2024.
>

\"The administration has activated all channels with the police and is taking care of the people recovered alive so far,\" D'Agostino said, adding that local authorities are gathering clothes and finding accommodation for the survivors.

\"The search continues at sea and all we can do is pray and hope to find someone alive.\"

ABC News' Joe Simonetti and Shannon K. Kingston contributed to this report.

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