Body of British tech magnate Mike Lynch is among those recovered from yacht wreckage, officials say
PORTICELLO, Italy — The Italian coast guard said Thursday that the body of British tech magnate Mike Lynch is among those recovered off the coast of Sicily from the wreckage of a superyacht whose builders had called it unsinkable.
One woman remains missing. She has not been identified, but Hannah Lynch, the tycoon’s 18-year-old daughter, is reportedly unaccounted for. The family had been celebrating his recent acquittal on fraud charges with the people who defended him at trial in the United States.
Five other bodies were recovered by rescue crews after Monday’s tragedy.
The Bayesian, a 184-foot British-flagged yacht, went down in a storm early Monday as it was moored about half a mile offshore. Civil protection officials said they believe the ship was struck by a tornado over the water, known as a waterspout, and sank quickly.
Termini Imerese Public Prosecutor’s Office investigators were collecting evidence for a criminal investigation, which they opened immediately after the tragedy despite no formal suspects having been publicly identified.
The chief executive of the Italian Sea Group, which owns the Bayesian’s manufacturer, said superyachts like these are “the safest in the most absolute sense.”
Divers searching the wreck of a superyacht that sank off Sicily have found two bodies as the search for missing passengers continued.
“First of all, because they have very little surface compared to a yacht facing into the wind,” Chief Executive Giovanni Costantino told Sky News on Wednesday. “Second, with the structure, the drift keel, they become unsinkable bodies.”
Investigators are looking at why the Bayesian, built in 2008 by Italian shipyard Perini Navi, sank while a nearby sailboat remained largely unscathed. Fifteen of the 22 people aboard survived by escaping in a lifeboat, including a mother who reported holding her 1-year-old baby over the waves to save her. They were rescued by the sailboat Sir Robert Baden Powell.
The sailboat’s captain, Karsten Borner, said his craft sustained minimal damage — the frame of a sun awning broke — even with winds that he estimated had reached 12 on the Beaufort wind scale, which is the highest hurricane-strength force on the scale.
He said he had remained anchored with his engines running to try to maintain the ship’s position as the forecast storm rolled in.
“Another possibility is to heave anchor before the storm and to run downwind at open sea,” Borner said in a text message. But he said that might not have been possible for the Bayesian, given its 246-foot-tall mast.
Police divers search for six believed trapped in the hull of a superyacht that sank off Sicily as they celebrated tech magnate Mike Lynch’s acquittal.
“If there was a stability problem, caused by the extremely tall mast, it would not have been better at open sea,” he said.
Yachts such as the Bayesian are required to have watertight compartments that are designed to prevent a rapid, catastrophic sinking even when some parts fill with water.
Lynch is the only person confirmed dead; the other bodies have not been formally identified by the Italian coast guard.
Besides Hannah Lynch, those missing are Christopher Morvillo, one of Lynch’s U.S. lawyers, and his wife, Neda; Jonathan Bloomer, chairman of Morgan Stanley’s London-based investment banking subsidiary, and his wife, Judy; and Recaldo Thomas, the super-yacht’s chef.
Divers have struggled to find the bodies in the yacht’s hull 164 feet underwater.
“We would need a crystal ball to know when we’ll be able to find the next body,” said Luca Cari, spokesperson for the fire rescue service.
“It’s very difficult to move inside the wreckage. Moving just one meter can take up to 24 hours,” Cari said.
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