Search teams are scouring waters along Italy’s southwestern shore, where a luxury sailing yacht sank early Monday. Six people are known to be missing, including British tech tycoon Mike Lynch and his daughter, and Morgan Stanley International Chairman Jonathan Bloomer and his wife.
Faced with the possibility that some people might have been trapped inside the ship when it sank in a storm, dive teams (including cave divers from the local fire brigade) have been looking for ways to enter the vessel.
The Palermo Coast Guard told NPR on Tuesday that such an operation is complicated by the depth and position of the hull, which lies on the seabed at a depth of around 50 meters, about a half-mile from the port in Porticello, Sicily.
Lynch, a mathematician and longtime tech entrepreneur, was on a vacation voyage that apparently doubled as a celebration of his recent acquittal on federal fraud charges in the U.S. At least two members of his legal team were reportedly on the boat.
Here’s what we know about Lynch and the tragic situation off Sicily’s coast:
Who is Mike Lynch?
Lynch, 59, made his name as the founder and longtime leader of Autonomy, a search engine and software company that helped companies manage information. Hewlett-Packard bought Autonomy for $11 billion in 2011, but Lynch then faced accusations — and then federal charges — that he had misrepresented his company’s financial health and prospects. Lynch denied the claims, saying HP was blaming him for its own problems.
Lynch was indicted on multiple fraud and conspiracy counts in late 2018, months after Autonomy’s former chief financial officer, Sushovan Hussain, was convicted of fraud (he was later sentenced to five years in prison).
Lynch successfully delayed extradition from the U.K. until May 2023. Earlier this year, the case finally culminated in a lengthy trial in San Francisco that ended with Lynch’s acquittal of all charges against him in June, after he testified on his own behalf.
Also acquitted was Stephen Chamberlain, Autonomy’s former finance VP. But on Saturday — just two days before Lynch was caught in a boating catastrophe — Chamberlain was killed in a car accident, after he was struck while out for a run.
Lynch earned a Ph.D. in adaptive pattern recognition from Cambridge University. In 2006, he was awarded an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) honor for his work in the U.K.’s tech industry. After selling Autonomy, he founded an investment group focused on startups emerging from Cambridge University.
Who else was aboard?
Survivors include Lynch's wife, Angela Bacares, along with Charlotte Golunski, who works at Invoke Capital, Lynch’s venture capital firm. Golunski was on the ship with her daughter, Sofia, who had just celebrated her first birthday. In an interview with La Repubblica, Golunski said she held her little girl as she floated in darkness, using all her strength to keep her arms up and prevent Sofia from drowning. Sophia’s father was also onboard and survived.
Ayla Ronald, a lawyer who worked on Lynch’s fraud case, and her partner also escaped the wreck. Other survivors include several crew members, including two women in their early 20s who were part of the ship’s staff.
Missing along with Lynch and Bloomer are Lynch’s daughter, Hannah, 18; Bloomer’s wife, Judy; a lawyer for Lynch named Chris Morvillo; and his wife, Neda, according to local newspaper Giornale di Sicilia.
Bloomer was a partner at Arthur Andersen for some 20 years, until 1994, according to his LinkedIn profile. He then led the financial services company Prudential before taking on a number of chairman roles, including at the legal services firm DWF.
Bloomer is also currently chairman of insurance company the Hiscox Group.
“We are deeply shocked and saddened by this tragic event,” Hiscox CEO Aki Hussain said in a statement sent to NPR. “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.”
#Palermo, naufragio imbarcazione a Porticello: proseguono da parte dei #vigilidelfuoco le ricerche delle 6 persone segnalate come disperse. Giunti da Cagliari, Sassari e Roma i #sommozzatori speleo [#19agosto 19:30] pic.twitter.com/7WY30ckxcK
— Vigili del Fuoco (@vigilidelfuoco) August 19, 2024
What happened to the yacht?
The gathering took place aboard a massive sailing yacht called Bayesian — a term that, in mathematics and statistics, refers to probability and uncertainty. The yacht’s overall length is listed at 55.9 meters (183 feet).
The Bayesian was off the coast of Porticello when it was swamped by a violent storm before dawn on Monday morning. Numerous eyewitness accounts cited a waterspout — a highly localized spiraling storm that’s essentially a marine tornado. Around that time, the Bayesian was located in the Tyrrhenian Sea, according to the Marine Traffic tracking site.
The ship, which had 22 people aboard, sank. In the aftermath, 15 people were rescued, but one died and six were unaccounted for.
What about the rescue effort?
Helicopters and marine craft have been searching for any sign of the passengers, hoping to find more survivors. Sea and cave divers have also been part of the effort.
Italy’s fire brigade, Vigili del Fuoco, says it is working on a plan for divers to enter the sunken vessel. An initial attempt on Monday was cut short after divers were able to gain only limited access, citing furniture that blocked a passageway.
When asked about the possibility of finding any other survivors of the calamity, Comandante Vincenzo Zagarola of the Italian Coast Guard told radio station RTL 102.5 on Tuesday that given how much time has elapsed, it’s difficult to imagine a good outcome for the missing passengers. But, he said, the search will continue.
Copyright 2024 NPR