Five bodies have been found inside the wreck of a luxury yacht that sank in a storm off the coast of Sicily. Three body bags were seen being taken to the port of Porticello on Wednesday afternoon following the sinking of the yacht at around 5am on Monday. The head of Sicily’s civil protection agency Salvatore Cocina said that four bodies had been recovered and efforts to bring a fifth to shore were “ongoing”.
He said there will be an investigation in due course, but the priority was to find those who are still missing. As the three body bags were taken back to the port of Porticello, dozens of emergency services staff were waiting, and one was seen being put in the back of an ambulance. The Italian Coastguard previously did not rule out the possibility that those missing, including technology tycoon Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, may still be alive, with experts speculating air pockets could have formed as the yacht sank.
Mr Lynch has strong Irish links as his mother was a nurse from Tipperary and his father a fireman from Cork. In a 2015 radio interview, Mr Lynch confirmed that he was born in Ilford in London, despite a number of reports that he was born in Ireland and raised in England. He said during the same interview that he spent childhood summers in Carrick-On-Shannon and Tipperary and has family who still live there.
Among those also missing are Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer; his wife, Judy Bloomer; Clifford Chance .