British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch and Morgan Stanley International chairman Jonathan Bloomer are presumed dead along with four others who were aboard a luxury superyacht that sank off the coast of Italy on Monday morning, according to a report.
Lynch and Bloomer were among the six people still missing, which include Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter Hannah, Bloomer’s wife Neda, and Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Judy, Italian coast guard officials said on Tuesday, per the Wall Street Journal.
The Bayesian, a 184-foot British-flagged yacht, was moored about a half-mile offshore when a storm rolled in before 4 a.m. Monday. Civil protection officials said they believed the ship was struck by a tornado over the water, known as a waterspout, and sank quickly.
Grainy film from closed-circuit cameras from shore, broadcast on the website of the Giornale di Sicilia, showed the illuminated 246-foot mast of the Bayesian weathering the storm and then disappear over the course of a minute.
Emergency services at the scene of the search for those missing after a yacht sank off the coast of southern Italy. (AP Photo/Salvatore Cavalli)
Lynch was once hailed as Britain’s king of technology. He was cleared in June of fraud and conspiracy charges in a U.S. federal trial related to Hewlett Packard’s $11 billion takeover of his company, Autonomy Corp. Lynch, those who helped defend him in the case and their families were celebrating his recent acquittal aboard the yacht.
British tech magnate Mike Lynch is presumed dead after a luxury superyacht sank off the coast of Italy on Monday. (AP Photo/Michael Liedtke, File)
Christopher Morvillo was one of Lynch’s lawyers, while Jonathan Bloomer testified in Lynch’s defense.
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Ten crew members and 12 passengers, including British, American and Canadian nationals were onboard when the vessel capsized. One man’s body was recovered, onboard chef Ricardo Thomas, an Antiguan citizen, and 15 people were rescued, including a 1-year-old girl, authorities said.
Scuba divers study a map of the sailing yacht Bayesian at the Porticello harbor as rescue teams and divers returned to the site of a storm-sunken superyacht Tuesday to search for six people, including British tech magnate Mike Lynch. (Italian Firefighters via AP, HO)
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The Bayesian was owned by Lynch’s wife, who survived the disaster.
Fox News’ Pilar Arias and The Associated Press contributed to this report.