The bodies of British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch and his daughter Hannah have been found in the yacht which sank off Sicily, the Daily Telegraph newspaper reported on Wednesday. Italian authorities have recovered the bodies of five out of the six missing passengers from the wreckage of the superyacht Bayesian , which sank off the coast of Sicily earlier this week. The vessel went down on Monday after being struck by a waterspout—a rare and powerful tornado over water—causing it to sink to a depth of 50 metres (164 feet).
The tragedy occurred approximately 700 metres off the Sicilian coast. The Italian Coastguard has been conducting an intensive search operation since the incident, scouring the wreckage in hopes of finding survivors or recovering the deceased. On Wednesday, the bodies of the first two victims were brought ashore at Porticello harbour.
Later that evening, two more bodies were retrieved from the water before the search was temporarily suspended due to nightfall. A fifth body was recovered on Thursday, leaving one passenger still unaccounted for. While the Italian authorities have yet to formally identify the bodies, the victims are believed to include several high-profile individuals, including UK tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, his daughter Hannah Lynch, and Jonathan Bloomer, chairman of Morgan Stanley Bank International, along with his wife, Judy Bloomer.
The Bayesian, a 56-metre yacht flying the British flag, was carrying 10 crew members and 12 passengers.