Lynch, Bloomer and others feared dead as divers search sunken yacht off Sicily coast

Italian divers on Wednesday prepared for a third day of search and rescue efforts around a sunken yacht off Sicily where British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, Morgan Stanley International chairman Jonathan Bloomer and four others were feared dead earlier this week.

Local media reported that the six missing people were likely trapped inside the Bayesian yacht when it was hit by a tornado near Porticello, Sicily, and were unable to escape.

“It is more likely that we will find the missing people inside the boat,” coastguard spokesman Vincenzo Zagarola said as rescue operations ended for the day on Tuesday.

Morgan Stanley’s Bloomer and Hiscox among those missing after the yacht sank

Crews aided by military ships and helicopters have been searching for the missing passengers since Monday when the Bayesian was hit by a tornado. Six guests, including Lynch’s wife Angela Bacares, and nine crew members were rescued and one person was confirmed dead.

In an interview with the PA news agency, Zagarola was asked if the remaining passengers would be found alive. “Reasonably, the answer should be no,” he said.

Lynch, 59, and his family were celebrating his recent acquittal on fraud charges with a small group of advisers when the violent storm hit. The allegations stemmed from Lynch’s sale of his software company Autonomy Corp. to Hewlett Packard Co. in 2011. The Silicon Valley giant continued to accuse Lynch of accounting failures. He had spent years working to clear his name in court and restore his reputation as one of Europe’s most successful entrepreneurs.

Just over two months before the yacht accident, a San Francisco jury found Lynch not guilty of criminal charges that he tricked HP into overpaying for his company. He was still fighting HP in a civil case in London, where a British judge held him responsible for creating the illusion of a much larger and more successful company than it actually was.

Lynch and his daughter Hannah, Bloomer and his wife Judy and Clifford Chance partner Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda were identified as the missing passengers on Tuesday by Sicilian authorities.

Rescuers had difficulty gaining access to the yacht 48 meters (157 ft) below the surface, citing the depth and position of the ship’s hull. Local media reported on Wednesday that small teams of divers were able to access some of the interior sections of the craft.

“The search will continue as long as necessary,” Zagarola added. “Certainly the entire hull will need to be inspected meter by meter.”

The searches are being conducted using a remote-controlled underwater vehicle capable of operating on the seabed for over two hours, according to a statement from the coast guard.

Continue the search operations of the 6 dispersions following the sinking of the Bayesian yacht with the use of 5 motorized helicopters and submersibles of the Nuclei under the Coastal Guard of Messina and Naples and other SAR resources coordinated by the Coastal Guard of Palermo pic.twitter.com/t9lPhMgiJM
— Coast Guard (@guardiacostiera) August 20, 2024

Italian authorities have already launched an investigation into the sinking, and Britain’s Maritime Accident Investigation Branch has sent inspectors for a preliminary assessment, according to a spokesman for the Department for Transport.

An investigation would involve speaking to crew, passengers and other witnesses and collecting physical and digital evidence, for example examining logbooks, crew qualifications and any data from the trip log.

The yacht’s mast, the tallest in the world, remains intact, contradicting earlier reports that it broke during the storm, the Corriere della Sera daily reported on Wednesday.

Copyright 2024 Bloomberg.