The Bayesian superyacht tragedy has claimed the life of one person while six others are feared dead – including British tech tycoon owner Mike Lynch.
The £30million superyacht was struck by a terrifying waterspout at around 5am, with the ship’s captain emotionally claiming ‘we didn’t see it coming’ from his hospital bed.
All 15 who survived the disaster have been named and some were able to escape in a liferaft from the luxury yacht that inflated as the doomed vessel rapidly sunk 50 metres to the seabed.
Dive teams today are searching for missing six but only have 12 minute windows in which to scour the wreck.
While engineer Nick Sloane, who led the salvage operation for the Costa Concordia disaster, warned the next 24 hours would be critical and gave faint hope that survivors may be trapped in ‘air pockets’ on board.
Here is what we know about the 22 passengers on board the Bayesian.
Luxury sailboat Bayesian was docked off the coast of Porticello when a waterspout struck the area just before 5am on Monday (The handout photo of the boat above does not show it sinking)
Missing
Mike Lynch
The British tech tycoon, 59, had recently beaten the odds after he was acquitted in one of the biggest ever fraud trials.
He had invited guests from legal firm Clifford Chance as well as his own company Invoke Capital to celebrate him being acquitted in June, vindicating the entrepreneur after a 13-year legal battle over the £8.6billion sale of his firm, Autonomy, to Hewlett-Packard in 2011.
Dubbed ‘Britain’s Bill Gates‘, worth an estimated £852million, and if found guilty, it could have landed him 25 years in a US jail.
Mike Lynch (pictured) invited family and friends on his superyacht to celebrate his triumph over fraud charges in the US. Lynch is missing alongside his 18-year-old daughter Hannah
British tech tycoon Mike Lynch (pictured) and his daughter are missing after his yacht sank
He had invited guests from legal firm Clifford Chance as well as his own company Invoke Capital to celebrate him being acquitted in June
The entrepreneur – who also owns a home in Chelsea – had spoken of his ‘indescribable’ relief at being acquitted and joy at returning to Britain, and texted one friend saying it was ‘so wonderful to be home’.
He has also spoken at his delight at being able to spend time with his two daughters, 21 and 18, and their six dogs.
The nerdy multi-millionaire entrepreneur named his superyacht after the ‘Bayesian’ statistical theory on which he built his software fame and fortune.
Lynch had been looking forward not only to getting back to running his businesses and the farm where he raises rare breed pigs and cattle, but to adding his voice to the growing fury over the wildly uneven extradition arrangements between the US and the UK.
Hannah Lynch
Mr Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter, Hannah, a former pupil at Latymer Upper School in West London, who received her A-Level results last week and was offered a place at Oxford.
She had been a star student at the competitive secondary school where fees are £25,000 per year,.
She had won a number of prestigious school from 2017 until 2024 including outstanding academic achievement while in lower sixth form and the William C Smith award for poetry.
Hannah Lynch attended the prestigious Latymer Upper School in Hammersmith
The superyacht was docked off the coast of Porticello, near Palermo, when a waterspout hit
Today, a spokesman for the school said they were ‘incredibly shocked’ by the news of the sinking and shared their thoughts with ‘her family and everyone involved’.
The school for 7-18 year olds said in a statement: ‘We are all incredibly shocked by the news that Hannah and her father are among those missing in this tragic incident and our thoughts are with their family and everyone involved as we await further updates.’
Chris and Neda Morvillo
Wealthy American couple Mr and Mrs Morvillo have not been seen since the Bayesian foundered off Palermo Monday morning after being caught in bad weather.
Mr Morvillo, 59, worked as a lawyer for Mr Lynch, who had chartered the vessel to celebrate a recent legal victory.
He is a partner at the prestigious Clifford Chance law firm, which has offices around the world.
Neda and her husband Christopher are both missing in the wake of Monday’s superyacht sinking off the coast of Sicily
Mr Morvillo previously served as an assistant US attorney for the Southern District of New York between 1999 and 2005
Mr Morvillo previously served as an assistant US attorney for the Southern District of New York between 1999 and 2005.
His wife, 57, has her own luxury jewellery line run under her maiden name, Neda Nassiri.
The couple have an apartment on New York’s Upper East side. They also own a luxurious four-bedroom, five bathroom home worth $2.3 million in South Kent, Connecticut.
They have two daughters – 27 year-old Sabrina, a voice actress, and 23 year-old Sophia, who studied the prestigious theater course at Northwestern University.
The couple’s identities were first revealed by the Daily Mail on Monday evening.
A spokesperson for law firm Clifford Chance said it is ‘deeply saddened’ by the sinking of superyacht Bayesian off he coast of Sicily.
A spokesperson said: ‘We are in shock and deeply saddened by this tragic incident.
‘Our thoughts are with our partner, Christopher Morvillo, and his wife, Neda, who are among the missing.
Neda, 57, has her own luxury jewellery line run under her maiden name, Neda Nassiri
‘Our utmost priority is providing support to the family as well as our colleague Ayla Ronald, who together with her partner thankfully survived the incident.
‘Our thoughts extend to the other passengers and crew and all those affected.
‘We have no further comment at this time.
‘We, and the families, ask that their request for privacy is honoured during this period.’
Jonathan and Judy Bloomer
Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy are still missing.
Mr Bloomer, a close friend of Lynch, was also confirmed missing by Italian Authorities.
According to his Linkedin profile, Mr Bloomer is the chairman of insurance provider Hiscox and was formerly the chief executive of Prudential before being ousted in a boardroom coup in 2005.
‘Our thoughts are with all those affected, in particular our Chair, Jonathan Bloomer, and his wife Judy, who are among the missing,’ Aki Hussain, Group CEO of Hiscox, which Bloomer also chaired, said in a statement.
Chairman of Morgan Stanley International, Jonathan Bloomer (pictured), and his wife, Judy, are also missing
Mrs Bloomer is a supporter and former board member of the Eve Appeal, a charity that raises awareness and funds research into gynaecological cancer
According to his Linkedin profile, Mr Bloomer (pictured in 2004) is the chairman of insurance provider Hiscox and was formerly the chief executive of Prudential before being ousted in a boardroom coup in 2005
Judy Bloomer has been described as a ‘brilliant champion for women’s health’ by a charity she works with.
Mrs Bloomer is a supporter and former board member of the Eve Appeal, a charity that raises awareness and funds research into gynaecological cancer.
‘Judy is a brilliant champion for women’s health and medical research, and has been an incredible supporter, committee member and trustee of our charity for over 20 years,’ chief executive Athena Lamnisos said.
‘We are deeply shocked to hear the news that our very dear friend and her husband Jonathan are among those missing.
‘Our thoughts are with Judy and Jonathan’s family, as well as all those who are still waiting for news after this tragic event.’
Survivors
Angela Bacares
The 57-year-old wife of tech tycoon Lynch is now reportedly recovering from her injuries in a wheelchair.
She revealed that the first sign of the freak waterspout that sunk the luxury sailboat Bayesian just before 5am this morning was a ‘slight tilt’ that woke her up.
Mr Lynch pictured with his wife Angela Bacares (right) in 2002 who was among the 15 people who were rescued from the yacht
Mr Lynch’s wife told La Repubblica that she and her husband woke up at 4am when the boat suddenly ’tilted’.
Mrs Bacares said that they were not worried at the time, but that she still got up to see what was happening, until glass shattered and created confusion on board.
She sustained abrasions on her feet – likely after walking on glass shards during the sinking – which have left her unable to walk and sitting in a wheelchair, La Repubblica reports, while she also has bandages on others part of her body.
Charlotte Golunski, James Emsilie and their baby daughter Sofia
Among the 15 who survived include a one-year-old British baby called Sofia, who was kept afloat by her mother, 36-year-old Charlotte Golunski.
Charlotte Golunski, 36, (pictured) her husband and her one-year-old baby also survived
Mrs Golunski, an Oxford graduate and senior associate at Invoke, also survived after fighting to prevent her child from drowning.
She is listed as working for Mr Lynch’s company Invoke Capital on Linkedin, and described how she momentarily lost her daughter in the ‘fury of the waves’, before finding her and managing to get them both to safety.
The mother told Italian newspaper Republicca: ‘I held 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.’
Mrs Golunski’s British husband James Emsilie, 36, also survived the tragedy.
They are all English and are in the Children’s Hospital.
Dr Domenico Cipolla, director of the emergency department at Di Cristina Children’s Hospital, said Ms Golunski had told him more details about the sinking of the yacht.
He told RAI news: ‘The mother said while she was sleeping with her daughter, they found themselves in the water in just a few moments.
‘She held the little girl tightly. The light was gone. For a few seconds the little girl slipped from her hands and she held her with her arms in the air. Within seconds they reached the yacht’s life raft.’
Mrs Golunski, an Oxford graduate, described how she momentarily lost her daughter in the ‘fury of the waves’, before finding her and managing to get them both to safety
He said the baby had ‘slept well’ last night.
Mrs Golunski ‘had injuries that we treated’, according to Dr Cipolla, with reports saying she suffered an injury to her shoulder.
‘[She] only has abrasions and a wound that needed stitching,’ Dr Cipolla said.
Mr Emsilie, the child’s father, was taken ‘to the adult emergency room where his wounds were sutured’ before he was reunited with Mrs Golunski and their daughter Sofia, Dr Cipolla said.
‘We reunited the whole family in a room in the emergency room. They are here with us,’ he added.
Ayla Ronald
Another survivor is Clifford Chance lawyer Ayla Ronald, 36, who was part of the successful legal team invited to go sailing with Lynch, according to her father Lin.
Mr Ronald told The Telegraph: ‘I have texted with my daughter and she hasn’t given me any updates about missing personnel or saved personnel. She has only said to me that there are deaths, and she and her partner are alive.
‘The only other information I’ve got is that Ayla’s phone is apparently the only one that’s had a battery, and so she’s been acting in some fashion as a co-ordinator with the medics.’
Mr Ronald said his daughter was also a keen sailor. ‘She just passed her captain’s ticket a few months ago in Greece. She’s not an active sailor, but she loves it.’
Lawyer Ayla Ronald, 36, (pictured) who was part of the successful legal team who were invited to go sailing with Lynch, is one of the survivors
Her father Lin Ronald said that Ayla (pictured) was part of Dr Lynch’s successful legal team who were invited to go on the sailing trip
Mr Ronald told the Telegraph: ‘I have texted with my daughter. She has only said to me that there are deaths, and she and her partner are alive’ (pictured: Ayla Ronald)
She took the tragic final picture on board the doomed Bayesian yacht and shared it to her Instagram story the evening before a freak storm.
Ms Ronald, 36, from London, and her partner were among those rescued after the tech tycoon’s £30million superyacht sank just 300 metres off the coast of the Italian island early on Monday morning.
Other survivors
Other survivors included Irish woman Sasha Murray, 29, Matthew Fletcher, 41, from London, James Calfield 51, from New Zealand, Myin Htun Kyaw, 39, from Myanmar and the French Captain Matthew Griffith.
Speaking from a hospital room in the town of Termini Imerese close to Palermo, Mr Calfied, in a state of grief and shock, could only utter one sentence.
‘We didn’t see it coming,’ he told La Repubblica.
Rescuers claimed that survivors spoke of the ship going down in ‘two minutes’ and that it appears that the yacht ‘wasn’t anchored in a safe place’ at the time of sinking.
They were rescued by crews from nearby boats including that of Karsten Borner, the captain of a sailing ship anchored near the Bayesian, who said his team struggled to keep their boat afloat when the tornado hit.
Fabio Cefalu, a fisherman in Porticello who witnessed the tragedy unfold, said he saw a waterspout – a sort of mini-tornado – that lasted about 12 minutes shortly before 4am.
At around 4.10am he said he saw a red flare go off from Bayesian but by the time he was able to reach the area about 20 minutes later the yacht had all but disappeared. ‘We found only the cushions, and a few planks floating in the water,’ he said.
Three more survivors were named as on-board hostesses Leah Randall, 20, from South Africa, Katya Chicken, 23, from Germany, and Leo Eppel.
Both Leah and Katya have been interviewed by officials from the CoastGuard investigating the circumstances of the sinking.
Dead
Recaldo Thomas
The Palermo Port Authority told Canadian broadcaster CBC News officials recovered the body of Mr Thomas, who is believed to have been the vessel’s Canadian chef.
He was reportedly from Canada but was living in Antigua.
