PORTICELLO (AFP) – Specialist divers yesterday launched a fresh search for six people, including United Kingdom (UK) tech tycoon Mike Lynch and the chairman of Morgan Stanley International, missing since their yacht capsized off the Italian island of Sicily.
The 56-metre British-flagged sailing yacht “Bayesian” was anchored some 700 metres (m) from port with 10 crew and 12 passengers on board when it was struck by a waterspout, a sort of mini tornado, before dawn on Monday.
Fifteen people aboard, including a mother and her one-year-old baby, were plucked to safety but the body of one man, reported to be the yacht’s chef, was found a few hours later.
Yesterday, divers searching for the six people still missing strapped on oxygen bottles and began their descent in choppy seas to the wreck, some 50m below the surface.
Because of the depth, each dive is restricted to 12 minutes each, including two minutes for descending and ascending, according to spokesman for the fire service Luca Cari. The passengers were guests of Lynch – a celebrated technology entrepreneur and investor sometimes referred to as the UK’s answer to Bill Gates – celebrating his recent acquittal in a massive United States (US) fraud case.
Lynch’s wife Angela Bacares was among 15 people rescued, but the businessman and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah were missing, according to head of the Civil Protection Agency in Sicily Salvo Cocina.
The chair of Morgan Stanley International Jonathan Bloomer, who testified for Lynch in the US case, was also missing alongside his wife, Judy, the UK insurer Hiscox said yesterday. Bloomer is also the chair of Hiscox, which issued a statement saying it was “deeply shocked and saddened” by the incident.
Christopher Morvillo of law firm Clifford Chance, who represented Lynch, was also on the boat along with his wife, media reports said.
Lynch, 59, was acquitted on all charges in a San Francisco court in early June after he was accused of an USD11 billion fraud linked to the sale of his software firm Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard.
