Agencies
PORTICELLO, Sicily
The Italian coast guard said on Thursday the body of British tech magnate Mike Lynch is among those recovered off the coast of Sicily from the wreckage of a superyacht whose builders had called unsinkable.
One woman remained missing. She has not been identified, but Hannah Lynch, Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter, is reportedly unaccounted for. The family had been celebrating his recent acquittal on fraud charges with the people who defended him at trial in the United States.
Five others were recovered by rescue crews following Monday’s tragedy.
The Bayesian, a 56-meter (184-foot) British-flagged yacht, went down in a storm early Monday as it was moored about a kilometre (half a mile) offshore. Civil protection officials said they believe the ship was struck by a tornado over the water, known as a waterspout, and sank quickly.
Termini Imerese Public Prosecutor’s Office investigators were collecting evidence for a criminal investigation, which they opened immediately after the tragedy despite no formal suspects having been publicly identified.
The chief executive of The Italian Sea Group, which owns the Bayesian’s manufacturer, told AP in an interview on Thursday that superyachts like these are “designed to be unsinkable.” “And it is unsinkable not only because it is designed in this way, but also because it is a sailing ship and sailing ships are the safest ever,” CEO Giovanni Costantino said.
Costantino added that “obviously they must not hit the rocks violently, discarding the hull, and they must not take in water,” suggesting the second possibility was the most likely in this case. Costantino also noted that sailing ships require “a greater competence” to be guided compared with motor boats.
Investigators are now looking at why the Bayesian, built in 2008 by Italian shipyard Perini Navi, sank while a nearby sailboat remained largely unscathed. Fifteen of the 22 people aboard survived by escaping in a lifeboat, including a mother who reported holding her 1-year-old baby over the waves to save her.
