The body of British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch has been recovered from the sunken Bayesian superyacht, Italian interior ministry official Massimo Mariani told Reuters Thursday.
Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter Hannah is still missing, Mariani said, and divers are still searching the area where the vessel sank.
Earlier Thursday, a fifth body was brought to shore from the wreck of the boat, which sank earlier in the week.
A CNN team on the ground saw Italian authorities move the body from a rescue boat to ambulances at the Sicilian port of Porticello.
Fifteen people were rescued on Monday and one body was recovered – thought to be that of the onboard chef Recaldo Thomas.
Since the boat sank, emergency crews have battled difficult conditions to enter the wreck, which is around 50 meters underwater (approximately 150 feet.)
Four days in, Italian authorities are still trying to understand how the 56-meter (184-foot) yacht sank so quickly.
“In just 60 seconds, you can see the ship disappear,” he told Italian outlet ANSA.
According to Massimo Mariani, an official from the Italian interior ministry, the body of British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch has been found inside the submerged Bayesian superyacht, as reported by Reuters on Thursday.
According to Mariani, divers are still looking for Hannah, Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter, and the area where the ship sank.
The boat capsized earlier this week, and on Thursday a fifth body was recovered from the wreckage. In the Sicilian port of Porticello, a CNN crew on the ground witnessed Italian authorities transfer the body from a rescue boat to ambulances.
During a strong storm, the vessel, which was flying the British flag and carried 22 passengers and crew members, snapped in half, causing it to sink quickly. Recaldo Thomas, the onboard chef, is believed to be among the fifteen individuals who were rescued on Monday, as one body was found. Initially, six more people were listed as missing.
According to the CEO of the company that owns the ship’s manufacturer, a number of preventable “mistakes” could have played a role in the ship sinking as investigators look into what caused the accident.
Giovanni Costantino, CEO of The Italian Sea Group, told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera that as soon as the crew of the ship realized there was going to be bad weather, they should have sealed the hull, shut all doors and hatches, and ordered all passengers to gather at the assembly point.
The guests were still inside the cabin when it instead began to take on water. For the people inside the cabin, it only required a 40-degree tilt to discover the door above them. “Can you picture a man in his 60s or 70s climbing out?” he asked.
According to Costantino, the Bayesian and other similar vessels are “safest in the most absolute sense” and should have been “unsinkable” in a different interview with Sky News. “.
Firstly, in comparison to a yacht facing the wind, they have a lot less surface. They become unsinkable bodies secondly, he said, thanks to the drift keel’s structure.
Constantino said he was “sad and in disbelief” after finding out that the Italian ship, the Bayesian, which was built in 2008 by Perini Navi and purchased by The Italian Sea Group in 2021, sank early on Monday morning.
The director of Morgan Stanley International Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy Bloomer, well-known American attorney Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda Morvillo, and Lynch and his daughter were among the six people who were reported missing.
The identities of all the people whose bodies have been brought ashore are not yet being released by Italian authorities. This is probably due to the fact that in Italy, the body must first be officially identified by a close relative before the coroner or prosecutor’s office can confirm it.
Official identities will probably originate from the prosecutor’s office, since the sinking of the Bayesian is being investigated criminally. The civil protection agencies in Italy are not authorized to verify the identities of the victims.
Emergency crews have faced challenging conditions to enter the wreck, which is located about 150 feet (50 meters) underwater, since the boat sank. Divers are forced to resurface after barely 12 minutes to reach and explore the site.
According to preliminary accounts, the yacht may have sunk due to a small waterspout that formed over the area where it was on Monday morning in Sicily.
After four days, the 56-meter (184-foot) yacht sank so quickly that Italian authorities are still baffled by what went wrong. In a related development, the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) of the United Kingdom has declared open an inquiry, stating on Wednesday that it would send a team of four inspectors to Palermo to carry out an initial examination of the scene.
Air columns that spin and form over water or move from land to water are known as waterspouts, a kind of tornado. Strong winds, choppy seas, hail, and potentially lethal lightning frequently accompany them. Though they are more frequently seen over tropical waters, they can form practically anywhere. But in Sicily, waterfalls are uncommon.
The Italian Sea Group CEO, Costantino, emphasized that there was no evidence to suggest that the boat’s construction or design contributed to the ship’s sinking. Technically and factually, this episode sounds like an unbelievable story, he said.
The moments when the tornado sank the yacht appear to have been captured on unverified security camera footage that was made public on Wednesday. An eerie video captured the boat being battered by the storm, violently rocking from side to side before capsizing, as rain poured down on the port.
According to one witness, who owned a villa with a view of the Bayesian anchorage, he watched back his CCTV footage after learning of the yacht’s sinking and saw the vessel going under.
He said to the Italian publication ANSA, “You can see the ship disappear in just 60 seconds.”. “You have a clear view of what is taking place. For the vessel, there was nothing that could be done. Within an instant, it was gone. “.
Further details have been added to this story.
