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British technology tycoon Mike Lynch has been confirmed dead after his superyacht sank off the coast of Italy, while search efforts continue for his 18-year-old daughter Hannah.
Five bodies have now been recovered from the wreckage of the Bayesian, which capsized during the early hours of Monday morning in stormy weather and a freak tornado.
An Italian government official confirmed that the sixth and final missing passenger is Lynch’s daughter Hannah, and that she is believed to be on the boat.
The former Latymer Upper School pupil had joined her parents on the vessel, ahead of starting an English degree at the University of Oxford in September.
Morgan Stanley international bank chair Jonathan Bloomer, his wife Judy Bloomer, Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo, and his wife Neda Morvillo, have also been identified as among the deceased after a three-day search operation.
A statement from the Bloomer family expressed gratitude to the emergency services, and added: “Our parents were incredible people and an inspiration to many, but first and foremost they were focused on and loved their family and spending time with their new grandchildren.
“Together for five decades, our only comfort is that they are still together now.
“This is an unimaginable grief to shoulder. Our only ask is that our family’s privacy is respected at this time.”
The body of Canadian-Antiguan national Recaldo Thomas, who was working as a chef on the superyacht Bayesian, was recovered at the scene of the sinking on Monday.
It is understood that Lynch, who was the creator of software giant Autonomy, had organised the boat trip for his family, close friends, colleagues and his legal team after winning an $11bn fraud case in June.
Tributes have begun flooding in for the 59-year-old entrepreneur, with Lynch’s Autonomy co-founder David Tabizel saying: “It looks like we’ve lost our dear Dr Mike Lynch. RIP. The world has lost a genius. His family have lost a giant of a man.”
As well as Autonomy, Lynch was on the board of several prominent institutions including the BBC and the British Library, and was a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.
Tim Davie, BBC director-general, said: “We are deeply saddened by the awful news about the deaths of those aboard the Bayesian yacht.
“Mike Lynch was an outstanding BBC director who made a major contribution during his time on the board, from 2007 to 2012.
“Wise, generous and insightful, he played a particularly key role in accelerating our transformation as a digital organisation.”
His wife, Angela Bacares, was among the 15 guests and crew to be rescued from the sea after they escaped on a lifeboat.
Specialist divers, fire service crew and the Italian coastguard were seen on Thursday returning to the site of the wreckage, which is resting on the seabed around half a mile off the coast of Porticello.
Salvo Cocina, of Sicily’s civil protection agency, said that an investigation would take place in due course but that the priority remained focused on finding Hannah Lynch.
However, the operation has been described as “complex”, with debris and furniture cluttering the narrow passageways leading to the cabin bedrooms, where the drowned guests have been discovered.
Divers are also only able to search the vessel in 10-minute windows due to the distance and the risk of developing nausea, known as “the bends”.
The tragedy comes as industry sources told The DailyTelegraph that Lynch put the £30m sailboat up for sale in March earlier this year, before changing his mind after he was acquitted of fraud and withdrawing it from the market four months later. He was reportedly set to review the decision in the autumn after enjoying the summer on board.
A decision on whether to immediately raise the sunken yacht from the seabed is “not on the agenda”, but will be considered in due course, a spokesperson from the Italian coastguard has said.
The disaster has baffled naval marine experts who said such a vessel, built by Italian high-end yacht manufacturer Perini and presumed to have top-class safety features, should not have sunk.
Giovanni Costantino, CEO of The Italian Sea Group, which includes Perini, said the Bayesian was “one of the safest boats in the world” and practically unsinkable.
Authorities have been gathering witness statements from the survivors at a hotel complex in Porticello, while the captain James Cutfield was reportedly questioned for two hours.
An Italian doctor at the hospital where British tourist Charlotte Emsley and her one-year-old daughter were taken said the mother held her baby above the waves after the yacht sank.
Dr Domenico Cipolla, of Di Cristina Children’s Hospital in Palermo, told PA: “Obviously the mother and the husband were so shaken by what has happened, it was a tragedy for them.
“She told me that two minutes after falling asleep with her baby they were in the water, she did not understand how this happened, it went dark.
“She held the child high in her arms above the waves, for a few seconds the baby was in the water, but she saved her. She sometimes cried for her friends in the hospital.”
