PORTICELLO, Sicily (AP) — The Italian coast guard said Thursday that the body of British tech tycoon Mike Lynch was among bodies recovered off the coast of Sicily from the wreckage of a superyacht that its builders had deemed unsinkable.
One woman remains missing – Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter, Hannah Lynch, who has not been identified, has been reported missing. Lynch’s family, along with those who defended him at his trial in the US, were celebrating his recent acquittal of fraud charges.
Five other people were rescued by rescuers after Monday’s tragedy.
The 56-metre (184-foot) British-flagged yacht Baysian sank in a storm early Monday while anchored about a kilometre (half a mile) offshore. Civil defence officials said they believed the vessel was hit by a type of tornado known as a water tornado, causing it to sink rapidly.
Investigators from the Termini Imerese Prosecutor’s Office opened a criminal investigation and collected evidence immediately after the tragedy, even though no formal suspects had been made public.
The chief executive of Italian Sea Group, which owns the Baysian’s manufacturer, said in an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday that such superyachts are “designed to be unsinkable.”
“This ship is unsinkable not only because it is designed to be, but because it is a sailing ship, the safest ship ever made,” CEO Giovanni Costantino said.
“Obviously you don’t want the ship to hit the rocks so hard that it sinks or becomes flooded,” Costantino added, suggesting the second option was most likely in this case.
Costantino also noted that sailing a boat requires “more skill” to maneuver than a motorboat.
Investigators are now looking into why the Baysian, built by Italian shipyard Perini Navi in 2008, sank while a nearby sailing ship was left largely unscathed. Of the 22 people on board, 15 survived by escaping in lifeboats, including a mother who said she pulled her one-year-old baby out of the water. They were rescued by the sailing ship Sir Robert Baden-Powell.
The sailboat’s captain, Karsten Borner, said damage to the vessel was minimal, with only the frame of its shade broken, despite wind speeds estimated to have reached 12 on the Beaufort scale, the highest level of a hurricane.
He said the ship remained anchored with its engines running to keep it in position as a forecasted storm approached.
“We could have just anchored before the storm and run downwind in open sea,” Borner said in a text message, but the Baysian’s 75-metre (246-foot) mast made that impossible, he said.
“If there were stability issues with the very tall masts, things wouldn’t have been good in the open sea,” he said.
Yachts like the Baysian require specially designed watertight compartments to prevent rapid and catastrophic sinking even if some of them become waterlogged.
Only Lynch has been confirmed dead; the other bodies have yet to be officially identified by the Italian Coast Guard.
In addition to Hannah Lynch, those missing include one of Lynch’s US lawyers, Christopher Morbillo, and his wife, Neda, and Jonathan Bloomer, chairman of Morgan Stanley’s London-based investment banking subsidiary, and his wife, Judy.
The body of chef Recardo Tomas was the first to be recovered on Monday, and his death was confirmed by his family.
Divers are struggling to find the body inside the yacht’s hull, which lies 50 metres (164 feet) below sea level.
“We need a crystal ball to know when the next body will be found,” Fire and Rescue Service spokesman Luca Cali said.
“It’s very difficult to move through the wreckage. It can take 24 hours to move just one meter,” Cali said.
