Mike Lynch: Tech tycoon missing after superyacht sinks off Sicilian coast

The area was hit by a strong storm and a tornado about an hour before the boat sank, according to a statement from the Bagheria City Council quoted by CNBC News.

Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, was rescued, The Telegraph said.

A mother has recalled how she kept her one-year-old alive by keeping his head above water.

“I kept her afloat with all my might, with my arms outstretched to keep her from drowning,” she told reporters at Repubblica, an Italian news agency, according to a BBC translation.

“It was still dark. In the water, I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I screamed for help, but all I could hear around me was other people’s screams.”

The owner of the superyacht is Revtom Ltd, which is registered in the Isle of Man.

According to Reuters, the captain of a nearby boat and the owner of the Bayesian are among those missing.

A local fire department told CNBC News that “divers, a speedboat and a helicopter” were assisting in the search.

Lynch, the founder of British software company Autonomy, was recently cleared of multibillion-dollar fraud charges.

He was extradited to the US last year on charges that he artificially inflated the value of Autonomy to defraud Hewlett Packard, which bought it in 2011 for $11 billion.

In November 2012, HP announced an $8.8 billion writedown of the Autonomy acquisition, with $5 billion due to what it said were “accounting irregularities” that caused HP to massively overpay for Autonomy.

Lynch, a former British government adviser, has always maintained his innocence. His lawyers called the charges a “travesty of justice” that “would not take place in a US court.”

The tech tycoon, who faced more than 20 years in prison if convicted, was preparing to launch a campaign to help wrongly accused Britons in the US, according to The Telegraph.

Representatives for Mike Lynch did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This story is developing.