On Aug. 19, the superyacht Bayesian sank during a sudden storm near Porticello, Sicily, Salvatore Cocina, the island’s Civil Protection Agency director, reported to NBC News. Authorities have since rescued 15 of the 22 people on board, but several prominent figures, including British billionaire Mike Lynch and Morgan Stanley Chairman Jonathan Bloomer, remain missing.
According to PBS News, civil protection officials believe a waterspout — a tornado that forms over water or moves from land to water — struck the ship, causing significant damage that caused the boat to sink quickly. A nearby sailboat managed to rescue 15 passengers who escaped via lifeboat, but questions had arisen about how the ship escaped damage when the Bayesian sank almost immediately, explained PBS News.
“There’s a lot of uncertainty as to whether it had a lifting keel and whether it might have been up,” said Jean-Baptiste Souppez, a fellow of the Royal Institute of Naval Architects and the editor of the Journal of Sailing Technology, in an interview with PBS News. “But if it had, then that would reduce the amount of stability that the vessel had, and therefore made it easier for it to roll over on its side,” he added.
Since the incident, Italy’s fire brigade has launched helicopters and divers to search the wreckage, CNN reported. However, Marco Tilotta, an inspector for the diving unit of Palermo’s local fire brigade, explained to CNN that the wreck’s depth has made it difficult to search for the remaining bodies.
As of Aug. 21, officials discovered the bodies of five out of the six people reported as missing but have still only identified the body of Ricardo Thomas, a Canadian-Antiguan chef who was working on the boat and pronounced dead on Aug. 19. According to BBC, Italian authorities have not formally identified the victims but have confirmed the missing people to be Lynch, his 18-year-old daughter Hannah Lynch, Bloomer, trustee and supporter of gynecological cancer research Judy Bloomer, Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo and jewelry designer Neda Morvillo.
CBS News commented that while Britain’s Telegraph newspaper stated that the bodies of Lynch and his daughter were among the remains recovered on Aug. 21, the civil protection chief would not confirm the report.
“The survivors are very tired and are constantly asking about the missing people,” one doctor, Domenico Cipolla, said on Aug. 19 to CNN before rescue officials discovered the bodies. “They are talking and crying all the time because they have realized that there is little hope of finding their friends alive.”
NBC News reported that Lynch planned the trip to celebrate his recent fraud acquittal by a San Francisco jury. The decision, which marked the conclusion of a multi-year legal battle, found Lynch was not responsible for any fraud during Hewlett-Packard’s acquisition of his software company, Autonomy.
According to interviewer Danny Fortson in the People Magazine, Lynch had initially been facing 25 years in prison, and “given his age and some health issues, he was very clear that he would probably die in prison in America.” After the sinking, Fortson said that “The terrible irony is that when we sat down last month, [Lynch] made it clear that he felt he had won a new lease on life.”
Several people on board — including Morvillo, lawyer Ayla Ronald and Bloomer — played a large part in Lynch’s recent victory.
“The Mediterranean sailing vacation was designed to be a celebration for Lynch, who brought Bloomer, who testified in his defense, and Morvillo, one of his U.S. lawyers, on the trip,” said NBC News.
NBC News went on to report that his co-defendant, Stephen Chamberlain, was not aboard the Bayesian and, in a “tragic coincidence,” was struck and killed by a car outside London on Aug. 17.
Rescue efforts are ongoing, and according to CNN, the United Kingdom’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch said it deployed a team of four inspectors to Palermo to assess the scene further.
