Editorial 21 August 2024.
Wednesday’s front pages reflect the latest in the ‘search for missing in air pockets’ for the bodies in the luxury yacht sinking off the coast of Sicily as more details have emerged about those missing. Many of the papers report on rescue crews attempting to access the sunken ship with some speculating if anyone could still be alive.
Elsewhere, King Charles is pictured on most of the front splashes as he visited with victims of the Southport victims. The king is seen on the front viewing flower tributes to the three little girls who were killed.
Domestic politics and showbiz stories are sprinkled across the front pages, though there is little unity in their political and celebrity front page reports.
‘Search for missing in air pockets’
The Independent says rescuers are desperately searching for the remaining six people and hope they are still alive in ‘air pockets’ in the sunken yacht. Rescuers are struggling to gain access to the sunken boat due to furniture blocking the doors.
The Metro says the hopes for the missing are now fading and rescuers are ‘clinging to the faintest of hopes’ that they are in that ‘pocket of air.’
The Telegraph focuses on comments from an expert who said the investigation into the sinking of the boat would look at whether the crew had failed to close hatches, allowing the yacht to fill up with water and quickly sink.
The Daily Express has an image taken from CCTV footage captured from a nearby villa, showing the moments before the yacht capsized.
The Daily Mail asks “Could anyone still be alive?” reporting that divers have been “frantically” hunting for the missing six “who could be trapped in air pockets” aboard the vessel which sank in a storm on Monday.
The Times says the superyacht ‘capsized and sank within 60 seconds’ as the tornado hit. The front page offers up a few bullet-pointed updates including some other names that have been released of the missing.
‘Reeves planning to raise taxes’
The Guardian says the Chancellor is planning to raise taxes, cut spending and get tough on benefits in the budget in October. A Treasury source has told the paper that despite economic growth in the first half of the year, “Nothing in the recent data can offset the scale of the black hole in the public finances.”
The FT says “Reeves plans above-inflation rise in social rents,” saying that the chancellor aims to boost housebuilding by providing “certainty to housing associations and councils grappling with debt burdens and maintenance backlogs”.
The i newspaper leads with news that from next year “Brits without new €7 EU visa face being turned away at airport”. There will be “no special treatment for [the] UK” in the bloc’s new travel rules for non-EU visitors “despite Labour’s Brexit reset talks”.
The Times lead story reports the prime minister has been warned that “empowering unions will stifle growth”. Employers, it says, fear firms will be “held to ransom”.
‘King pays tribute to Southport victims’
Several of the front pages feature images of King Charles viewing flowers left for the victims of the Southport killing.
The Sun reports the king will host the families of the three girls who died at a reception in London on Wednesday. Following that reception at Buckingham Palace, the Daily Mail says he’ll return to Balmoral.
The Mirror leads with an interview with England manager Sven-Göran Eriksson who has revealed he has terminal cancer. Under the headline “Sven: My goodbye”, the paper quotes a “moving message” from the Swede in which he says: “We are all scared of dying but I’ve lived a good life.”
