Six missing, including Morgan Stanley chairman after luxury yacht sinks off Sicily
Jonathan Bloomer, chairman of Morgan Stanley International, and Chris Morvillo, a lawyer at Clifford Chance, are among six individuals missing after a luxury yacht sank in a storm off the coast of Sicily.
The yacht, named Bayesian, went down near Porticello, east of Palermo, on Monday.
The vessel, which was carrying 22 people, including Brits, Americans, and Canadians, capsized about 700 meters from the shore.
Fifteen people were rescued, including a one-year-old British girl. Sicily’s Civil Protection confirmed that the body of the ship’s cook was recovered.
The sinking occurred after a severe storm caused waterspouts to hit the yacht. Witnesses reported that the storm broke the yacht’s mast and caused it to lose balance and sink.
“The yacht’s anchor was down when the storm hit,” an Ansa news agency report stated.
Specialist fire and rescue divers from Rome and Sardinia were called in, but their initial search of the wreck, located 50 meters below the surface, was unsuccessful.
The Italian fire department reported, “Access was limited to the bridge, with difficulty due to obstructing furniture.”
Mike Lynch, a prominent UK tech entrepreneur known as “the British Bill Gates,” was also reported missing. Lynch co-founded software company Autonomy, which was sold to Hewlett-Packard for $11 billion in 2011.
He was recently acquitted of fraud charges in the US. Reports suggest Lynch had invited his legal team to celebrate his acquittal on the yacht.
The sinking coincided with the confirmation of Lynch’s co-defendant, Stephen Chamberlain, having died in a car accident in Cambridgeshire on Saturday.
Chris Morvillo, who worked on high-profile corruption cases including Lynch’s, is also missing.
Jonathan Bloomer, the 70-year-old chairman of Morgan Stanley International and insurance company Hiscox, is among those unaccounted for.
The Bayesian, owned by Revtom Ltd. and registered in the Isle of Man, can accommodate up to 12 guests in six suites. The yacht’s name reflects the Bayesian theory, a subject of Lynch’s PhD thesis.
Angela Bacares, Lynch’s wife and the sole legal owner of Revtom, was among the 15 survivors.
Charlotte Golunski, a British mother who survived with her one-year-old daughter, described the harrowing experience: “We were woken by thunder, lightning, and waves… it felt like the end of the world,” she told La Repubblica.
She recounted holding her baby above the water to save her from drowning.
The yacht’s rescue operation was aided by a nearby Dutch-flagged vessel that found a life raft carrying 15 survivors, three of whom were heavily injured.
Eight survivors are currently in hospital. The UK Foreign Office is assisting British nationals affected by the incident, and the Marine Accident Investigation Branch is conducting a preliminary assessment of the sinking.
Source-BBC
