Search efforts to find the sixth and final missing person from the Bayesian superyacht continue today after five bodies were discovered in the wreckage of the luxury boat which sank off the coast of Sicily . Four bodies were brought back to shore in Porticello on Wednesday , with authorities reporting they had spotted a fifth body inside the vessel which sank after it was caught up in bad weather on Monday. As the search for the sixth person – who remains unaccounted for – resumed on Thursday morning, the fifth body was recovered from the wreck.
The identities of those recovered have not been confirmed, but billionaire tech tycoon Mike Lynch and his daughter were among the missing. The luxury vessel, named the Bayesian, was moored half-a-mile off the coast of Porticello when it sank around 5am local time on Monday while reportedly on a cruise to celebrate Mr Lynch’s recent acquittal of fraud charges in the United States. Who is involved and why were they there? British technology tycoon Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah – who had recently finished her A-Levels and was bound for Oxford – have been missing since the Bayesian sank on Monday .
They were among six missing persons, one of whom is still unaccounted for, after 15 of the other 22 people onboard were rescued after escaping onto a lifeboat. Also officially unaccounted for as of Thursday were Jonathan Bloomer, chairman of Morgan Stanley and insurance company Hiscox, and his wife, Judy, a respected psychotherapist; as well as Chris Morvillo, a lawyer from Clifford Chance and part of the legal team representing Mr Lynch, and his wife, Neda, who reportedly runs a luxury jewellery line. Mr Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, was among those rescued, as well as Charlotte Golunkski, who kept her one-year-old daughter Sophie alive by holding her over her head while she was in the water.
The body of one man – believed to be that of chef Recaldo Thomas, a Canadian-Antiguan man working onboard – was recovered near the yacht. The Telegraph reported Mr Lynch had guests from the legal firm that represented him and his own company to join him on the voyage. How did the boat sink? Italian authorities have reported bad stormy conditions that caused the yacht to sink, but investigations into the exact circumstances of the tragedy remain ongoing.
Read Next How yacht tragedy unfolded and why the search has been hampered It is believed the luxury vessel may have been hit by a water spout, a rotating column of wind that forms over a body of water and is often likened to a tornado. According to the US National Ocean Service, tornadic weather spouts have the “same characteristics” as a land tornado and are often accompanied by severe thunderstorms, “high winds and seas, large hail, and frequent dangerous lightning”. According to ship tracking data from the Marinetraffic.
com website, the Bayesian and a nearby yacht named Sir Robert Baden-Powell started to move out to sea, away from Porticello harbour, just before 4am local time (2am UK time) on Monday. The tracking data, analysed for the Bayesian shows that it has suddenly stopped 15 minutes later, while the other yacht also stops shortly afterwards – just 200m (656ft) away. The Sir Robert Baden-Powell is then seen moving slowly around in this area, presumably looking to rescue any survivors.
The Bayesian is no longer moving, and this is its last recorded position, according to the tracking data. What search and rescue efforts are underway? Rescue divers re-entered the sunken vessel on Thursday to bring the fifth person’s body to the surface, while searches for the sixth missing person are ongoing. Fire crews from Italy’s fire service Vigili del Fuoco said they had been accessing the vessel through natural entrances, without making openings.
Remote underwater vehicles are being used, with naval units and cave divers also taking part in the search. Inspections of the yacht’s internal hull took place on Wednesday morning. “If you manage to get inside, you understand there is a world of objects.
So, getting inside and descending into the compartment below from the stairs that are narrow and going into all of the cabins is a really hard and difficult job,” fire department diver Marco Tilotta said per Reuters news agency, according to the BBC. What will authorities investigate? Authorities will now attempt to piece together the circumstances surrounding the ship’s sinking. According to The Guardian , an investigation will be carried out under the supervision of the public prosecutor of Termini Imeresi.
The local port authority has opened a separate investigation to determine whether the crew took safety measures. A team of four British inspectors from the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) also arrived in Porticello to look at the site of the sinking and investigate what happened because the Bayesian was flying a British flag, it is understood. The ship’s captain, James Cutfield, was reportedly quizzed by authorities for two hours as they began questioning all crew members.
Speaking to New Zealand media, Mr Cutfield’s brother Mark said his sibling was a “very good sailor” with eight years of experience working abroad on luxury yachts. Who is Mike Lynch? Mike Lynch , the British billionaire and tech entrepreneur, owes his fame and fortune to software firm Autonomy, which he sold to Hewlett-Packard for billions in 2011. Hailing from Suffolk, he graduated with a PhD from the University of Cambridge.
Mr Lynch is married to Angela Bacares, with whom he shares two daughters. Read Next Who is Mike Lynch, the businessman missing after yacht sinking The father-of-two has a reported net worth valued at around £852m, according to the Independent . His business ventures led him to once be dubbed “Britain’s Bill Gates” but also landed him in legal trouble.
Autonomy’s sale was wrapped in fraud claims, and he faced civil action in the UK before being extradited to the United States to face criminal charges. In June, he was cleared of 15 fraud charges after allegations he inflated Autonomy’s worth. What do we know about the Bayesian? The 56-metre sailing boat was launched by Italian shipbuilder Perini Navi in 2008, according to the company website.
It was once called the Salute, but was later renamed after Lynch’s PhD thesis on statistical theory by mathematician Thomas Bayes. Media reports suggest the yacht’s owner is listed as Revtom Limited, a company owned by Mr Lynch’s wife. Who was Stephen Chamberlain and how is he connected to the situation? Stephen Chamberlain was an associate of Mike Lynch and stood trial for fraud alongside him after Autonomy’s controversial sale.
Days before the yacht disaster, Mr Chamberlain died after being hit by a car while out jogging. Mr Chamberlain, Autonomy’s former VP of Finance, was cleared of all charges by a San Francisco court in June. Relatives of Mr Chamberlain said in a tribute released through police that he was a “much-loved husband, father, son, brother and friend”.
“He was an amazing individual whose only goal in life was to help others in any way possible,” his family said..
