British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, along with four other victims, has been confirmed dead after a superyacht sank off the coast of Sicily this week. The Italian coastguard has identified the bodies of Morgan Stanley chairman Jonathan Bloomer, US lawyer Chris Morvillo, and their wives, Judy Bloomer and Neda Morvillo, as well as Mr. Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter, Hannah. The yacht’s chef, Recaldo Thomas, also tragically lost his life and was found soon after the vessel sank early Monday morning.
The confirmation of identities has come as another victim was recovered from the wreck on Thursday, bringing the total to five. Mr. Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, is among the 15 survivors, as well as a British woman and her baby who were sleeping on deck and managed to escape the sinking yacht. The UK-flagged Bayesian capsized during a storm, leaving six people initially missing. The ship is now resting at a depth of approximately 50m (164ft) off Porticello near Palermo, where it was anchored.
Divers have been facing numerous challenges in navigating the wreck, including debris, darkness, narrow spaces, and only a 12-minute window for each descent. The focus of the search will now shift to finding the one remaining person still unaccounted for, Hannah Lynch. Her father, 59-year-old Mike Lynch, was known as the “British Bill Gates” and had recently made headlines due to a high-profile fraud case in the US. In June, he was cleared of all charges related to the sale of his software company Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard in 2011. He had faced the possibility of years in jail but was instead celebrating his freedom with friends, including Christopher Morvillo, a lawyer who had worked on his case.
David Tabizel, Mr. Lynch’s co-founder at Autonomy, expressed his sorrow at the news, stating, “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 investigators continue to look into the cause of the sinking, the CEO of The Italian Sea Group, Giovanni Costantino, has stated that superyachts of this type are “unsinkable.” He assures that there were no flaws with the design and construction of the yacht and calls the incident “an unbelievable story, both technically and as a fact.” He explains that their structure and keel make them “unsinkable bodies.”
Meanwhile, the brother of the yacht’s captain has come forward to defend his brother’s skills as a sailor. New Zealander James Cutfield, 51, had been in charge of the Bayesian and had previously told Italian media that they were caught off guard by the extreme weather. His brother, Mark Cutfield, describes him as a “very good sailor” and a “well respected” mariner who has been working as a captain on luxury yachts for eight years. He also has 30 years of experience in building yachts and was a competitive dinghy racer in his youth. The investigation into the sinking of the superyacht continues as the world mourns the loss of these accomplished individuals.
