PORTICELLO: The body of British technology tycoon Mike Lynch was recovered on Thursday from the wreckage of a yacht that sank earlier this week off Sicily during a storm, said Massimo Mariani, an official at the Interior Ministry. Reuters.
Lynch's daughter, the last person missing after the shipwreck, remains missing, Mariani said, adding that she could be inside the wreck or could have been thrown overboard when the boat sank.
The Bayesian, a 56-metre-long (184-foot) British-flagged superyacht with 22 passengers and crew on board, was anchored off the harbour of Porticello near Palermo when it disappeared beneath the waves within minutes of bad weather.
Lynch, 59, was one of Britain's best-known technology entrepreneurs and had invited friends to join him on the yacht to celebrate his recent acquittal in a high-profile US fraud trial.
His body was carried ashore in a blue bag and taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital morgue.
In addition to Lynch and her daughter, the other people who did not make it safely were Judy and Jonathan Bloomer, non-executive chairman of Morgan Stanley International; and Clifford Chance's lawyer, Chris Morvillo, and his wife, Neda Morvillo.
Fifteen people, including Lynch's wife, survived, while the body of the chef on board, Canadian citizen-former Recaldo Thomas, was found near the wreck hours after the disaster.
Italian authorities have not announced any formal identification of the bodies and the families have yet to comment.
Firefighters spokesman Luca Cari warned it could take some time, even days, before the last missing person was found, given the difficulty divers are having in accessing all areas of the ship, which is capsized at a depth of 50 metres.
A judicial inquiry has been launched into the disaster, which has baffled naval experts who say a ship like the Bayesian, built by Italian high-end yacht maker Perini, should have been able to weather the storm.
Giovanni Costantino, CEO of Italian Sea Group, which owns Perini, told Italian media that the Bayesian was “one of the safest ships in the world” and blamed the crew for failing to follow correct safety procedures.
The captain, James Cutfield, and his eight surviving crew members have not made any public comment about the disaster.
