Monday, November 4, 2024

Luxury yacht sinks: Last body, believed to be tech mogul’s 18-year-old daughter, is found

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Search and rescue teams recovered the final missing person from a luxury superyacht that sunk off the coast of Sicily, the Italian coast guard has said. 

The woman’s body was discovered in the wreckage and brought ashore on Friday. She has not been identified. 

However, Hannah Lynch, the 18-year-old daughter of British tech magnate Mike Lynch, was previously reportedly unaccounted for, and the body is likely hers. 

MOMENT LUXURY YACHT SINKS OFF COAST OF ITALY CAUGHT ON CAMERA, WITH 6 PRESUMED DEAD

Rescue personnel transport what is believed to be the body of Hannah Lynch, daughter of British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, at the scene where a luxury yacht sank, off the coast of Porticello, near the Sicilian city of Palermo, Italy, on Aug. 23, 2024. (REUTERS/Louiza Vradi)

The Lynch family was aboard the Bayesian, a 184-foot British-flagged yacht that sank after capsizing while anchored off the coast of northern Sicily on Monday.

Bayesian had 22 people on board — 12 passengers and 10 crew — when it capsized and sank within minutes of being hit by a predawn storm. 

Seven people died in the incident. 

ITALIAN DIVERS FIND 5 MORE BODIES, 1 STILL MISSING AFTER SUPERYACHT DISASTER SURVIVOR’S OMINOUS TEXT MESSAGE

Mike Lynch’s body was recovered Thursday, and he was apparently aboard the vessel to celebrate his recent acquittal in a U.S. fraud case with associates who helped him through the trial. His wife, Angela Bacares, was among the 15 survivors.

Christopher Morvillo, an American lawyer with Clifford Chance who defended Lynch in the fraud case, also died, as did Morgan Stanley International Chairman Jonathan Bloomer, who testified in Lynch’s defense.

Morvillo’s wife, Neda, and Bloomer’s wife, Judy, were also among the dead. The body of onboard chef Recaldo Thomas, an Antiguan citizen, was recovered Monday.

A nearby sailboat rescued 15 people, including a 1-year-old girl. 

Mike Lynch

Billionaire British tech titan Mike Lynch’s body was among those recovered from the luxury superyacht. (Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Divers have been searching for the missing in the hull of the Bayesian, which now rests on the seabed 164 feet underwater.

Civil protection officials said they believe the ship was struck by a tornado over the water, known as a waterspout, sometime around 5 a.m. Monday near the port of Porticello, where it was anchored and then sank quickly. 

Investigators are seeking to learn why the superyacht sank so quickly.

The CEO of a manufacturing company responsible for building the yacht that sank off the coast of Sicily this week blamed a series of “indescribable, unreasonable errors” by the crew for the vessel’s demise.

Reuters reported that Giovanni Costantino, CEO of The Italian Sea Group, which includes Perini Navi, the Italian high-end yacht maker that built the British-flagged Bayesian in 2008, directed blame at the crew.

“The boat suffered a series of indescribable, unreasonable errors. The impossible happened on that boat … but it went down because it took on water. From where, the investigators will tell,” Costantino said in an interview.

scuba divers on the scene jumping into water

Scuba divers on the scene of the search on Tuesday. (Italian Firefighters via AP, HO)

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Costantino ruled out design or construction flaws as reasons the ship sank, saying it was unlikely after 16 years of trouble-free navigation, including in more severe weather than Bayesian encountered this week.

Instead, he blamed the yacht’s crew for the “incredible mistake” of not being prepared for the storm, which was included in shipping forecasts. The passengers should have been called out of their cabins and assembled at a safety point as the ship was preparing for the storm by pulling up the anchor, the CEO said.

Additionally, doors and hatches should have been closed, and the keel should have been lowered to increase stability, among other safety measures, Costantino declared.

Fox News’ Stephen Sorace and Greg Wehner, as well as The Associated Press, contributed to this report.

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