The heroic mother who saved her one-year-old child by holding her above her head after the Bayesian sank, Charlotte Golunski, shared her experience while recovering in hospital.

Dr Domenico Cipolla, A&E chief at the Giovanni di Cristina paediatric hospital in Palermo, described Charlotte’s experience. Dr Cipolla said: “She told me that while they were sleeping, at a certain point the yacht overturned due to the tornado, and they found themselves in the water.

“Some of them immediately managed to get onto the lifeboat. And some, evidently, didn’t make it. She told me that she was in the water for no more than two, three seconds, and she managed to save the baby, to keep her arms up, and then, with the others, they were able to get on the lifeboat, and then, I think, they were rescued by the coastguard.”