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The identities of five bodies found inside the wreck of the luxury superyacht Bayesian have now been confirmed, and include British technology tycoon Mike Lynch.
Also confirmed dead is Morgan Stanley chairman Jonathan Bloomer, his wife Judith Bloomer, Clifford Chance lawyer Christopher Morvillo and his wife Neda Morvillo, all of whom were aboard when the boat sank in a severe storm off the coast of Sicily.
Mr Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter Hannah remains missing, with search efforts resuming on Thursday morning and Salvatore Concina, the head of Sicily’s civil protection agency, saying it remained their “priority” to find her.
The 50-metre vessel sank as a fierce storm battered the area overnight, and was flying a British flag, according to ship-tracking site Marine Traffic.
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What do we know about the missing people on the yacht?
Mike Lynch was among the six tourists who were initially missing after disaster struck. The British technology tycoon founded software giant Autonomy in 1996 and was made an OBE for services to enterprise in 2006. In June, he was cleared of conducting a massive fraud relating to a $11 billion (£8.64bn) sale to US company Hewlett Packard.
One man, the yacht’s chef Recaldo Thomas, was the first person confirmed dead, after his body was discovered on Monday in the hours after the sinking.
Loved ones have paid tributes to Mr Thomas, a Canadian-born man who had been living in Antigua, on social media. One said: “Rest in Power big man. I don’t know what else to say except I love you, and I always will.” Another wrote: “Going to miss you so much Recaldo Thomas still finding this so hard to believe.”
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It is understood that Mr Lynch had planned the superyacht cruise as a celebration with family, employees and lawyers who supported him during the decade-long trial.
Among the 15 survivors rescued from a lifeboat was Mr Lynch’s wife Angela Bacares. Another survivor, Charlotte Golunski, 35, told Italian journalists how she saved her one-year-old daughter Sofia from drowning.
She told La Repubblica she lost Sofia for “two seconds”, adding: “I held her afloat with all my strength, my arms stretched upwards to keep her from drowning. It was all dark. In the water I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I screamed for help but all I could hear around me was the screams of others.”
According to her LinkedIn profile, Ms Golunski is a partner at Mr Lynch’s firm, called Invoke Capital.
Charlotte, Sofia and Charlotte’s husband, James have now been discharged from hospital.
Ayla Reynold, from New Zealand, working at Clifford Chance, also survived the horror with her partner. Her father Lin Ronald confirmed to The Telegraph she had been invited aboard as thanks for assistance in Mr Lynch’s recent court case. He said that his daughter had not given many details about what happened, but said: “There are deaths and she and her partner are alive.”
Two more survivors have also been named as Leah Randall and Katja Chicken. They are both reportedly South African and worked as crew members on the Bayesian.
Where did the yacht sink?
The luxury yacht sunk off the coast of the Sicilian capital of Palermo in Italy.
The 56-metre-long sailboat sank with 22 people on board shortly before sunrise, the Italian coast guard said in a statement.
“The wind was very strong. Bad weather was expected, but not of this magnitude,” a coast guard official in Palermo told Reuters.
Storms and heavy rainfall have swept down Italy in recent days – with floods and landslides causing major damage in the north of the country – after weeks of scorching heat.
The boat left the Sicilian port of Milazzo on 14 August and was last tracked east of Palermo on Sunday evening, with a navigation status of "at anchor", according to vessel tracking app Vesselfinder.
The Bayesian superyacht
The luxury boat, which had been cruising along the Italian coastline, was owned by Revtom, a company registered to Mr Lynch’s wife Angela Bacares, which is based on the Isle of Man.
The Bayesian is 56 metres long, according to VesselFinder.
The superyacht can accommodate up to 12 guests in six suites and is listed for rent for up to 195,000 euros (£166,000) a week.
Bayesian completed several sailings in recent days, calling at various ports in Sicily.
Formerly known as Salute, or health in Italian, its 75-metre mast is the tallest aluminium mast in the world, Italian shipbuilder Perini said on its website.
Perini constructed the boat in 2008 and it was last refitted in 2020 and was managed by yachting company Camper & Nicholsons.
Camper and Nicholsons International, confirmed to The Independent that the Bayesian sailing yacht “encountered severe weather and subsequently sank”.
What do we know about the search
Body bags were seen being taken to the port of Porticello on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning.
Mr Concina said there will be an investigation in due course, but the priority is finding the missing teenager.
As the body bags were taken back to the port, dozens of emergency services staff were waiting, and one bag was seen being put in the back of an ambulance.
Inspections of the yacht's internal hull took place on Wednesday morning after divers succeeded in smashing through a glass window to enter it amid a reportedly difficult search operation.
A helicopter was drafted in to help the search effort as divers from the local fire service entered the water with torches attached to their headgear. A police boat and divers also entered the water on Wednesday afternoon.
Fire crews said they had been accessing the vessel through natural entrances, without making openings. Remotely controlled underwater vehicles have been used, with naval units and cave divers also taking part in the search, the coastguard said.
A team of four British inspectors from the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) also arrived in Porticello to look at the site of the sinking. The MAIB is looking into what happened because the Bayesian was flying a British flag, it is understood. The Italian Coastguard said the MAIB is not involved in the search for the missing people, and that it has not been requested to assist.
