Divers resume search for six missing in bayesian yacht sinking

Specialist divers have launched a fresh search for six people missing after a superyacht capsized off the coast of Sicily, including the British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch and his teenage daughter.

The British-flagged Bayesian, a 56-metre sailboat, was carrying 22 people and anchored just offshore near the port of Porticello when it was hit by a waterspout at about 5am local time (4am BST) on Monday, the Italian coastguard said in a statement.

One man, Ricardo Thomas, understood to be the vessel’s chef and an Antiguan citizen, was confirmed dead. Six others, including Lynch, 59, and his 18-year-old daughter, Hannah, remained unaccounted for on Tuesday morning.

Jonathan Bloomer, the chair of Morgan Stanley International, and Chris Morvillo, a lawyer at the legal firm Clifford Chance, and both their wives are also among the missing.

The coastguard previously said those unaccounted for had British, American and Canadian nationalities.

Diving teams from the Italian firefighting service, who arrived from Rome, Sassari and Cagliari on Monday, completed another dive on Tuesday morning. Marco Tilotta, who is in charge of the firefighter divers from Palermo, said there were numerous challenges in recovering bodies.

“We have just completed the latest dive to inspect the boat,” Tilotta said. “The greatest challenge is the depth, which does not allow for immediate interventions. You have to consider that when we go underwater, we have three minutes to descend and eight minutes to work on the wreck. Then we have to begin the ascent phase.

“There is also the problem of accessing the vessel with all the belongings inside and the fact that the boat is positioned at 90 degrees. We have not yet entered the boat. We plan to do so soon and inspect every inch of the vessel.”

Tilotta said that apart from the body found on Monday, no others had been located.

Fifteen people were rescued, including Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, who owned the boat, and a one-year-old girl who was saved by her mother.

Lynch co-founded Autonomy, a software business that became one of the shining lights of the UK tech scene, in the mid-90s. 

Once described as Britain’s Bill Gates, Lynch spent much of the past decade in court defending his name against allegations of fraud related to the sale of Autonomy to the US tech company Hewlett-Packard for $11bn.

The 59-year-old was acquitted by a jury in San Francisco in June, after he had spent more than a year living in effect under house arrest.

Upon his acquittal, Lynch told reporters: “I am looking forward to returning to the UK and getting back to what I love most: my family and innovating in my field.”

Morvillo represented Lynch at the trial, while Bloomer, who is also non-executive chair of the insurer Hiscox, appeared at the trial as a defence witness for Lynch.

Aki Hussain, the group chief executive of Hiscox, said: “We are deeply shocked and saddened by this tragic event.

“Our thoughts are with all those affected, in particular our chair, Jonathan Bloomer, and his wife, Judy, who are among the missing, and with their family as they await further news from this terrible situation.”

A spokesperson for the British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said on Monday: “We are in contact with the local authorities following an incident in Sicily, and stand ready to provide consular support to British nationals affected.”

The UK’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch said four of its inspectors were being deployed to Palermo in Sicily.

Karsten Borner, 69, the captain of a sailboat that was alongside the Bayesian, said the vessel carrying Lynch and 21 other passengers sank within minutes.

“We were also awakened by the storm,” Karsten said. “The first thing I did was to start the engines of my sailboat to give more stability to the vessel. I don’t know if the Bayesian did the same. It seems like they were also suddenly caught by the storm.

“After securing our boat, we immediately approached the Bayesian. But it had already sunk. I have never seen a vessel of this size go down so quickly. Within a few minutes, there was nothing left. Then we saw the raft with the 15 passengers. It was a tragedy.”

Fabio Cefalù, 36, a fisher from Porticello, was one of the first to attempt to help the Bayesian.

“I arrived at the port at 3.30 for a fishing trip,” he said. “But when we saw the first flashes of lightning, we decided to stop. At 3.55, a mini tornado arrived. The docks of the port diverted it and it hit the sailboat head-on. They were in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Cefalù said the whirlwind lasted about “10 minutes with strong winds and rain”.

He added: “We saw a flare 500 metres from the dock. We went to see what had happened. We only saw the floating debris of the boat. We immediately called the coastguard. The sea was terrible. The wind very strong. The storm destroyed my solar panels. The vessel was hit head-on. I thought I would find someone in the sea, but nothing. The boat had disappeared from the radar. In my opinion, the missing passengers are still onboard. They were caught in their sleep by the storm and didn’t have time to get out.”

Bayesian had completed a number of sailings in recent days, calling at various ports in Sicily, according to the ship-tracking website VesselFinder. The superyacht can accommodate up to 12 guests in six suites and was listed for rent for up to €195,000 (£166,000) a week. It was built in 2008 by the Italian company Perini Navi.

In a separate development on Monday, Lynch’s co-defendant at the US trial, Stephen Chamberlain, died after being hit by a car while out running in Cambridgeshire.

Chamberlain, the former vice-president of finance at Autonomy, was hit on Saturday morning and had been placed on life support.

In a statement Chamberlain’s lawyer, Gary Lincenberg, said he had died after being “fatally struck” by a car while out running.

Lincenberg added: “He was a courageous man with unparalleled integrity, and we deeply miss him. He fought successfully to clear his good name, which lives on through his wonderful family.”

Chamberlain’s family described the 52-year-old in a statement as a “much-loved husband, father, son, brother and friend”.

Lynch was awarded an OBE for services to enterprise in 2006, and appointed in 2011 to the science and technology council of the then prime minister, David Cameron. He was elected as a fellow to the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2008 and the Royal Society in 2014.

James Smith