Topline
A sixth body has been found after luxury yacht Bayesian sank off the coast of Sicily earlier this week, multiple outlets reported Friday, after divers recovered the bodies of British tech entrepreneur Michael Lynch and four others, including the chairman of Morgan Stanley International.
A body bag is brought ashore at the harbor in Porticello by rescue workers on Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024.
PA Images via Getty Images
Key Facts
The Italian Coastguard told media they had found another body, believed to be that of 18-year-old Hannah Lynch, the daughter of Michael Lynch and his wife, Angela Bacares, in the search for missing people, and the head of Sicily’s civil protection agency Salvatore Cocina reportedly said efforts to recover the body are “in progress.”
The bodies of Lynch, Morgan Stanley International chairman Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy, and attorney Chris Morvillo and his wife, Neda, were all recovered from the sunken Bayesian yacht Wednesday, according to Reuters.
Bacares was rescued alive from the vessel.
Rescuers were able to breach the main hull of the sunken yacht Wednesday for the first time and recovered the five bodies, multiple outlets reported.
One person, believed to be the yacht’s chef, Recaldo Thomas, was confirmed early on in the search to have died, and 15 others were rescued.
A spokesperson for the Italian coast guard on Tuesday said those missing were presumed dead.
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Crucial Quote
“It looks like we’ve lost our dear Dr Mike Lynch. RIP,” David Tabizel, who co-founded at Autonomy with Lynch, posted to X. “The world has lost a genius. His family have lost a giant of a man.”
Who Was On Board The Bayesian Yacht?
Lynch, 59, and his daughter, Hannah, were among the first to be identified as among the missing. Lynch is a founder of the software company Autonomy Corporation, Invoke Capital and cybersecurity company Darktrace. His daughter was reportedly set to attend Oxford University in the fall. Lynch’s wife is the legal owner of the ship and was among those rescued. Others onboard were guests of the Lynch family, including Morvillo, Lynch’s lawyer, and his wife and jewelry designer Neda. Bloomer, 70, is reportedly a close friend of Lynch’s. Among those resued were Charlotte Golunski, a partner at Lynch’s Invoke Capital, her partner and her baby daughter. Lawyer Ayla Ronald and her partner were also rescued.
Key Background
The Bayesian, a 184-foot luxury sailing yacht, was anchored near the port of Porticello overnight Sunday with 12 crew members and 10 guests onboard. A storm that hit the coast reportedly included a waterspout, effectively a tornado over water, which tipped the boat into the sea. The ship’s massive sail and mast dragged the vessel underwater and it sank—it had the tallest aluminum mast in the world at 246 feet. Fifteen people were rescued from the vessel. Of those, eight were treated at local hospitals and have since been released.
Surprising Fact
The ship’s sinking comes two months after Lynch, a one-time billionaire, was acquitted in a fraud trial after Hewlett-Packard accused him and his colleagues of artificially inflating the value of software company Autonomy before HP purchased it in 2011. Bloomer testified for the defense at Lynch’s trial, according to the Associated Press, and Morvillo was one of the lawyers on the case. The same weekend the ship sank, Lynch’s co-defendant Stephen Chamberlain was hit by a car while jogging and died Monday after being put on life support at a U.K. hospital.
Further Reading
