ROME — British tech magnate Mike Lynch and five other people were missing after their luxury superyacht sank off Sicily early Monday, Italy's civil protection and authorities said. Lynch's wife and 14 other people survived. Lynch, who was acquitted in June in a big U.
S. fraud trial, was among six people who remain unaccounted for after their chartered sailboat sank off Porticello, near Palermo, sometime after 4 a.m.
A tornado over the water known as a waterspout struck the area overnight, said Salvo Cocina of Sicily's civil protection agency. One body was recovered, and police divers spent the day trying to reach the hull of the ship, which was resting at a depth of 163 feet off Porticello, where it was anchored, rescue authorities said. The divers returned to the site after 10 p.
m. to see if it would be possible to search through the night, when weather conditions were expected to worsen, said Luca Cari, spokesman of the fire rescue service. People are also reading.
.. The boat had 10 crew members and 12 passengers, the Italian coast guard said.
A sudden fierce storm battered the area overnight, and struck precisely where the 184foot British-flagged Bayesian was moored. "They were in the wrong place at the wrong time," Cocina said, noting that another big ship nearby, the Sir Robert Baden Powell, wasn't as badly damaged and helped rescue the 15 survivors — including Lynch's wife, Angela Bacares. The Bayesian, built in 2008, was notable for its single 246-foot mast — one of the world's tallest made of aluminum — and it was lit up just hours before it sank.
Online charter sites listed it for rent for up to about $215,000 a week. One of the survivors, identified as Charlotte Golunski, said she momentarily lost hold of her 1-year-old daughter Sofia in the water, but then managed to hold her up over the waves until a lifeboat inflated and they were both pulled to safety, Italian news agency ANSA reported. The father, identified by ANSA as James Emslie, also survived, Cocina said.
Karsten Borner, the captain of the Sir Robert Baden Powell, said he noticed the Bayesian nearby during the storm but after it calmed he saw a red flare and realized the ship disappeared, ANSA and the Giornale di Sicilia newspaper reported. Borner said he and a crew member boarded their tender and found a lifeboat with 15 people, some of them injured, who they then took aboard and alerted the coast guard. Eight of those rescued were hospitalized while the others were taken to a hotel.
One body believed to be the cook was found near the wreck, but six others were unaccounted for and believed inside the hull, said Luca Cari, a spokesperson for the Italian fire rescue service. Rescue crews located the vessel and deepwater police divers were trying to access the hull, Cari said. The operations, which were visible from shore, involved helicopters and rescue boats from the coast guard, fire rescue and civil protection service.
Fisherman Fabio Cefalù said he saw a flare from shore about 4:30 a.m. and immediately set out to the site but by the time he got there, the Bayesian sunk, with only cushions, wood and other items from the superyacht floating in the water.
He said he immediately alerted the coast guard and stayed on site for three hours, but didn't find any survivors. Cocina said in addition to Britain and the United States, passengers and crew members were from Antigua, France, Germany, Ireland, Myanmar, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Spain, he said. The UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch deployed a team of four inspectors to Italy to conduct a preliminary assessment.
Dutch foreign ministry spokesperson Casper Soetekouw said the lone Dutch citizen on board, a man, was rescued and not in life-threatening condition. Lynch, once hailed as Britain's king of technology, was cleared in June of fraud and conspiracy charges related to Hewlett Packard's $11 billion takeover of the business software company he founded, Autonomy Corp, in 2011. The not-guilty verdicts followed an 11-week criminal trial in San Francisco that delved into the history of HP's acquisition.
He netted $800 million from the Autonomy sale. The acquittal vindicated Lynch, who vehemently denied wrongdoing. Get local news delivered to your inbox!.
