To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a webbrowser that supports HTML5video Jonathan Bloomer, the International chairman of Morgan Stanley, and his wife are reportedly among the missing after the Bayesian yacht sank in Sicily . Bloomer and his wife are believed to be among those unaccounted for, Italian authorities said, along with British businessman Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah. The luxury yacht Bayesian was hit by a sudden tornado off the coast of Porticello fishing village on Monday morning, causing it to sink.
One person, the sailboat’s chef, was found dead, while six people remain missing. Christopher Morvillo, a lawyer at Clifford and Chance, and his wife are believed to be among the six missing people, according to Italian Civil Protection agency. The shipwreck comes after Lynch and his co-defendant in a US fraud trial Stephen Chamberlain were acquitted in June.
Just days ago, Chamberlain was hit by a car and later died from his injuries. 24m ago Morgan Stanley boss among missing in Bayesian disaster 14h ago Mike Lynch’s teenage daughter among those missing 18h ago ‘Britain’s Bill Gates’ missing after yacht sinking 20h ago British mum who saved one-year-old daughter speaks out 20h ago CCTV captures ferocity of winds hitting Sicily last night Jonathan Bloomer, the International chairman of Morgan Stanley, and his wife are reportedly among the missing after Mike Lynch’s Bayesian luxury yacht sank suddenly. Bloomer and his wife are believed to be among those unaccounted for, Italian authorities said, along with British businessman Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah.
Christopher Morvillo, a lawyer at Clifford and Chance, and his wife are believed to be among the six missing people, according to Italian Civil Protection agency. MarineTraffic data shows the route of the superyacht, just days before being hit by a tornado off the coast of Sicily. According to the website, ‘Bayesian’ was last anchored off the island of Panarea, leaving the area on just after 3pm on Thursday.
It then passed through the Aeolian Islands, and on Sunday, it then reportedly underwent turbulence near Cefalù. The tragedy occurred this morning, while on its way to Palermo, with the boat sending its very last signal at 2.06am.
Superyacht BAYESIAN sank off Palermo after a tornado hit early this morning. 15 rescued, 6 missing, including tech tycoon Mike Lynch. MarineTraffic data shows its last signal received via AIS at 2:06 UTC before sinking.
Read more on the story: https://t.co/WOL75loP7I pic.twitter.
com/vxzVraSrIF Pictures from 2021 show a bird’s-eye view from the top of the superyacht’s 75-metre mast. The post on X by a rigging company claims that the mast is the tallest made from aluminium in the world. This comes after Karsten Börner, the German commander of the boat next to it, said he witnessed the mainmast break and fall into the sea, causing the vessel to capsize.
Andy has been working with the tallest aluminuim mast in the world; belonging to S/Y Bayesian. We have been working with this yacht for many years meaning we have records & reports throughout the history of the rig, enabling us to tune, test & troubleshoot easily and effectively. pic.
twitter.com/7UtJEkGuKa The British Marine Accident Investigation Branch is deploying four inspectors to Palermo to conduct a preliminary assessment. The Southampton-based body is an independent unit of the Department for Transport and has four accident investigation teams.
A basic assessment of the scene will be made, with no investigation launched at this stage, it is understood. The superyacht completed a number of sailings in recent days, calling at a number of ports in Sicily, according to ship-tracking website VesselFinder. Mike Lynch’s co-defendant in his US fraud trial has died in hospital just hours after the 49-metre ‘Bayesian’ superyacht capsized off the coast of Sicily.
It is a double tragedy for the families of the two former colleagues, who were acquitted of all 15 charges by a jury in San Francisco in June. Stephen Chamberlain was hit by a car in Cambridgeshire on Saturday and had been placed on life support, according to a source cited by Reuters. He died from his injuries earlier today.
In a statement, Chamberlain’s lawyer, Gary Lincenberg, who described him as a ‘dear client and friend’, said he had died after being ‘fatally struck’ by a car while out running. At the same time, a search is still ongoing to find Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah who are missing in Sicily. Chamberlain faced the same charges of fraud and conspiracy as his former boss for allegedly scheming to inflate the value of Autonomy, then Britain’s largest software firm, before it was sold.
‘He was a courageous man with unparalleled integrity, and we deeply miss him,’ Lincenberg said. ‘He fought successfully to clear his good name, which lives on through his wonderful family.’ Divers have been inspecting the wreck of the ‘Bayesian’, which is lying at a depth of 49 metres.
They were seen jumping in the sea at the port in the village of Porticello where the vessel sank. Karsten Börner, the German commander of the sailboat next to the ‘Bayesian’, witnessed the moment its mainmast broke and fell into the sea. He told La Republica ‘it all happened in a few moments’, adding: ‘The wind was strong, very strong.
‘Suddenly I saw the mainmast of the sailing ship bend and then break and fall into the water.’ The captain managed to rescue 15 people, but when he returned, he said there was ‘no one left in the water’. ‘Bayesian’ was ‘in the wrong place at the wrong time’ when a tornado over the water, also known as a waterspout, struck the small fishing village of Porticello overnight.
Salvo Cocina, of Sicily’s civil protection agency, revealed that another yacht nearby was not as damaged and was able to rescue some of the 15 survivors. Italy’s coast guard said in a statement that the sailboat capsized ‘due to a violent storm’. Rescuers will work overnight to find the six missing people, Salvo Cocina of Sicily’s civil protection agency has said.
A specialist caving search and rescue diving team has arrived from Rome, in the hope to ‘achieve results’ either during the night or by tomorrow morning at the latest, the BBC reported. They landed in a helicopter near the pier where the superyacht capsized in the early hours of today. Extinction Rebellion Italy has attributed the sinking of the superyacht to the climate emergency.
Sharing footage of the tornado that smashed into the vessel, the group said on X: ‘Heavy downpours across Italy. ‘Flooding in Tuscany and Marche. Tornadoes in the south, one dead and six missing after a boat sank in Palermo.
‘Before and after, exceptional heat waves. These are the images from Salento. ‘It’s not bad weather, it’s a climate emergency.
’ Violenti nubifragi in tutta Italia. Allagamenti in Toscana e Marche. Trombe d’aria al Sud, un morto e sei dispersi per una barca affondata a Palermo.
Prima e dopo, eccezionali ondate di calore. Queste sono le immagini dal Salento. Non à ̈ maltempo, à ̈ #EmergenzaEcoclimatica .
pic.twitter.com/l8T6h5LAMs Ricardo Thomas has been named as the chef of the £14 million ‘Bayesian’ in Italy.
Salvatore Cocina, director general of Sicily’s civil protection agency, told the BBC that he is among the people missing. Earlier today it was reported that a body was found near the wreckage of the sunken vessel. The daughter of Mile Lynch is understood to be among the seven people still missing after the tragedy off the coast of Sicily.
Hannah, aged 18, was on the superyacht among her father and and his wife Angela, who was rescued. Salvo Cocina, head of the Civil Protection Agency in Sicily, told AFP that the Italian coastguard are still searching for the teenager. He added that the rescue operation would continue overnight.
The Foreign Office has shared an update about the tragedy in Italy after it was reported that four of the missing people are British. A spokesperson said: ‘We are providing consular support to a number of British nationals and their families following an incident in Sicily, and are in contact with the local authorities.’ More than 12 hours have passed since a superyacht worth £14 million sank off the coast of Sicily after a tornado struck.
If you are just joining us, these are the key events summarised: There were 22 people on board the British-flagged ‘Bayesian,’ which was anchored near the port of Porticello. 15 people managed to escape the vessel before it went under, and a one-year-old baby girl was among those rescued. The body of a man has been recovered from the water, while six other people remain missing.
Among them is British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, it has been reported; Lynch’s wife Angela Bacares was rescued by a nearby boat. As well as the British citizens on the yacht, it is understood that nationals of the US, Canada, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Ireland were also there. Divers who specialise in caving have been brought over to Sicily to help search the Bayesian.
The Daily Telegraph quoted firefighting service spokesman Luca Cari, who said the spaces inside the 56-metre yacht are so small that experts were needed. He said: ‘We are working non-stop with our divers and our helicopter. ‘But we are talking about very small confined spaces inside the yacht so we need the specialist cave divers and their equipment.
’ Firefighter divers came from Palermo on Sicily and two towns on Sardinia, he added. The passengers on the Bayesian were ’employees and collaborators’ of a software company, one of the survivors of the disaster has said. Charlotte Golunski, who saved her one-year-old daughter Sophia as the boat sank, spoke to Italian newspaper La Repubblica about the people who joined her on board.
She said: ‘We left London in a group of nine or ten with Sophia — all employees and collaborators of our software company. ‘We were all guests of our boss, a good person, extraordinary, who they may not yet have saved.’ It’s unclear if she was referencing influential tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, who is among the seven people missing.
Golunski said 12 crew joined the group on board, and they visited the Eolian islands before Milazzo and Cefalu in Sicily. The yacht was around half a mile offshore from the island’s largest city of Palermo when it sank at 5am. A British mother who survived the sinking of the Bayesian has been named as Charlotte Golunski, a business associate of missing businessman Mike Lynch.
In an interview with La Republica, Golunkski, 36, described saving her daughter’s life by ‘[holding] her afloat with all my strength, my arms stretched upwards to keep her from drowning. ‘It was all dark. In the water I couldn’t keep my eyes open.
I screamed for help but all I could hear around me was the screams of others.’ Her partner has been named as James Emsilie, who also survived the disaster along with their one-year-old daughter Sophia. Golunski told the publication that she, Sophia and James managed to survive due to being on deck at the moment the yacht sank, after being woken by thunder and lightning a short while earlier.
She described the sinking of the Bayesian as ‘the end of the world’ and said she and her husband struggled to stand on their feet in the ensuing chaos. The family were eventually thrown into the water as the ship sank. ‘For two seconds I lost my daughter in the sea then quickly hugged her amid the fury of the waves,’ she said.
‘Many were shouting, and luckily the lifeboat inflated and 11 of us were able to climb in.’ All three members of the family were eventually rescued and were confirmed to be unharmed after being taken to a nearby hospital for check-ups. Angela Bacares, the wife of missing businessman Mike Lynch, is confirmed to be among the survivors of the shipwreck after their yacht sank off the coast of Sicily.
Six people remain missing, including Mr Lynch and at least three other Britons. 22 people were believed to be onboard the yacht when it was hit by a tornado earlier this morning. A spokesman for Italy’s firefighting service has said it is unlikely any more survivors from the Bayesian will be found.
The comment was reported by The Times , which quoted the same spokesman saying the body discovered earlier was found near the sunken yacht. It is believed that the body is that of the boat’s chef. Italian media has listed the survivors as including the captain Matthew Griffith, 22, from France, Sasha Murray, 29, from Ireland, James Caulfield, 51, from New Zealand, Ayla Ronald, 36, from London and Myin Kyaw Htun, 39, from Myanmar.
The Times named the British woman who saved her one-year-old daughter Sofia as Charlotte Golunski. Angela Bacares, the wife of missing entrepreneur Mike Lynch, is also reported to be among those rescued. She is understood to be the legal owner of Revtom, the Isle of Man-based company that owns the Bayesian.
Mike Lynch, the British tech tycoon who sold his software startup to HP for £8.7 billion in 2011, is understood to have been on board the Bayesian yacht which sank this morning off the coast of Sicily. He hit the headlines in recent years after HP accused him of duping them into overpaying when they bought his firm Autonomy.
In 2023, he was extradited to the US and was facing 25 years in prison if he was found guilty. But he was acquitted just two months ago. Mr Lynch had been awarded an OBE for services to enterprise in 2006, and later served on the government’s council for science and technology under David Cameron in 2011.
MORE : London set for heavy rains as Hurricane Ernesto puts dampener on summer holidays MORE : The Metro daily cartoon by Guy Venables MORE : Metro reader shares how to stop the onslaught of ‘alpha’ toxicity among men Sign Up for News Updates Get your need-to-knowlatest news, feel-good stories, analysis and more Privacy Policy.
