One of the five bodies recovered from the sunken yacht off the coast of Sicily has been identified as British billionaire Mike Lynch.
The Bayesian boat, carrying 22 passengers and crew, sank at around 5:00 a.m. local time on Monday, August 19, after encountering a tornado.
The superyacht sank about half a mile off the coast of Porticello.
Lynch, his daughter Hannah, Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy Bloomer, as well as Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda Morvillo, were reported missing.
By Thursday morning, five bodies had been recovered from the wreck, with one person still missing. The Italian Coastguard has now confirmed to the PA news agency that the sixth and final person still unaccounted for is a woman.
Brent Hoberman, a friend of Lynch, told Sky News that they were “all hoping for a miracle.”
He said, “We knew it was unlikely, but you still hold out hope. It’s just so unbelievably tragic for him to have spent the last 12 years defending his name and not truly living a full life, only for his death to be confirmed now. It’s incredibly sad.”
Fifteen people onboard, including the tech tycoon’s wife, Angela Bacares, were rescued after escaping onto a lifeboat. The body of Recaldo Thomas, a Canadian-Antiguan chef working on the yacht, was recovered nearby.
Businessman Lynch, who founded the software company Autonomy in 1996, was cleared of fraud in connection with an $11 billion (£8.64 billion) sale to the US firm Hewlett Packard.
Sicily’s civil protection director-general, Salvo Cocina, previously told The Telegraph: “On behalf of myself and my colleagues, I would like to extend our deepest sympathy to the families of the victims and offer our condolences during this difficult time.”
According to the Italian Coastguard, police boats, divers, fire crews, remotely operated underwater vehicles, and cave divers have all been involved in the search.
Vincenzo Zagarola of the Italian Coastguard previously stated that the missing tourists were feared dead.
Meanwhile, Bloomer’s twin brother, Jeremy, told the BBC that his family is “coping the best they can.”
He said, “It’s a slow process and will take time. There might be air pockets, but we don’t know.”
He said, “He was my older brother by half an hour, so losing a twin brother means a lot. It’s still a wait-and-see situation, so fingers crossed.”
He said, “I’m just numb, just numb. That’s it; you don’t know what to think, and you can’t believe it’s happened.”
A team of four British inspectors from the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) has also arrived in Porticello to examine the site of the sinking.
The MAIB is investigating the incident because the yacht Bayesian was flying a British flag, according to reports.
The Italian Coastguard stated that the MAIB is not involved in the search for the missing individuals and has not been asked to assist.
