Coastguard boats searching for the six people missing after a yacht sank off the coast of Porticello, in Sicily, on August 19. Photo: Getty Images Kiwi Ayla Ronald, 36, was among the 22 people on board, one of whom has died and six are still missing, when a tornado struck the area where the Bayesian was anchored about 3pm (NZT). Her father Lin Ronald told the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade Ronald, who was working in London as a lawyer, survived the capsizing.
One person died and six people are missing. The missing include UK tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch and his daughter. Lin Ronald told RNZ his daughter was alive and well, but shaken.
His daughter has been working in London at one of the UK's top law firms, Clifford Chance. He confirmed Wall Street Journal reports she had worked on Lynch's long-running fraud case in the US over the sale of his company to Hewlett Packard. The yacht trip was to celebrate Lynch's legal win in the wake of serious charges, including fraud.
Regarding the yacht sinking, Lin Ronald said it was "a very unusual very rapid incident which is very sad for all involved". The luxury yacht was struck by an unexpectedly violent storm and sank off Sicily early on Monday (local time). The British-flagged Bayesian , a 56-metre-long sailboat, was carrying 22 people and was anchored just off shore near the port of Porticello when it was hit by ferocious weather, the Italian coast guard said in a statement.
Eyewitnesses said the yacht vanished quickly beneat.