Sicily yacht sinking live: Mike Lynch's death like Shakespearean ...

Mike Lynch considered selling his doomed superyacht before his trip to the Mediterranean but changed his mind after his acquittal, The Telegraph can reveal.

The British tech tycoon, 59, had put his £30 million Perini Navi yacht up for sale in March this year but withdrew it from the market in July, shortly after he was acquitted of fraud in San Francisco.

He planned to spend the summer on board the 56-metre vessel and then review the decision to sell in the autumn, industry sources told The Telegraph.

Read the full story here.

Tim Davie, BBC director-general, has paid tribute to Mike Lynch.

He said: “We are deeply saddened by the awful news about the deaths of those aboard the Bayesian yacht.

“Mike Lynch was an outstanding BBC director who made a major contribution during his time on the board, from 2007 to 2012.

“Wise, generous and insightful, he played a particularly key role in accelerating our transformation as a digital organisation.

“Our thoughts are with his family and all others involved.”

Nick Barke, head of salvage operations at Boats.co.uk, has said the “only real way of knowing” why the yacht sank will be to lift it to the surface.

Mr Barke warned that such a process would be “expensive and complicated” as “they have to do it in such a way that they don’t damage anything too badly.”

He said divers would attach straps to the boat before it is lifted upright and hauled out of the water by a crane barge.

The chief executive of Cancer Research UK has added to the tributes paid to Mike Lynch after confirmation of his death on Thursday.

Michelle Mitchell said: “We are deeply saddened to hear of the death of Mike Lynch and all those who have been affected by this tragedy.

“Together with his wife, Angela, Mike was a valued donor to Cancer Research UK and a member of the board for our Create the Change campaign, which funded the building of the Francis Crick Institute.

“His support has helped to bring leading scientists together under one roof to tackle the biggest health challenges faced by humankind, including cancer.

“Our sincerest condolences go out to all the families affected.”

The timing of Mike Lynch’s death has been likened to a Shakespearean tragedy by a friend of the technology entrepreneur.

Brent Hoberman, the lastminute.com founder and friend of Mr Lynch, told BBC:  “It’s very tragic and the timing is of a Shakespearean era tragedy.”

Mr Hoberman added: “He had just worked hard to clear his name for the last 12 years and was on a celebratory cruise with the people who supported him so much through that really tough time.”

An extract from Admiralty Chart 963 covering ports on the north coast of Sicilia shows the area in which Mike Lynch’s superyacht sank on Monday.

Although the precise spot where Bayesian sank has not been disclosed by the authorities, it is known to be about half a mile south-east of Porticello.

The Bayesian superyacht was “virtually unsinkable”, the chief executive of the firm that built it has claimed.

Prosecutors in the nearby town of Termini Imerese have opened an investigation into the disaster and will seek to establish what caused the boat to sink and whether any of the crew are criminally liable.

They are expected to investigate the keel on Mike Lynch’s superyacht after it was found “partially elevated” – and also whether the yacht’s crew had failed to close access hatches into the vessel before the tornado struck.

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David Tabizel, Mike Lynch’s co-founder at software giant Autonomy, has paid tribute to the businessman.

He said: “It looks like we’ve lost our dear Dr Mike Lynch. RIP. The world has lost a genius. His family have lost a giant of a man.”

As well as Autonomy, Mr Lynch was on the board of several other institutions including the BBC and the British Library, and was a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.

Emergency workers “would need a crystal ball” to know if and when another body will be found, an Italian fire service spokesman said.

Divers brought a fifth body to shore today, with one person still unaccounted for.

The coastguard said the missing person is a woman. Four other bodies were recovered yesterday.

Luca Cari, a spokesman for the fire rescue service, told Sky News: “We would need a crystal ball to know when we’ll be able to find the next body.

“It’s very difficult to move inside the wreckage. Moving just one metre can take up to 24 hours.”

The superyacht that sank off the coast of Sicily had won multiple awards for its stylish interiors and design.

Mike Lynch, 59, and his teenage daughter, Hannah, are among the seven passengers and crew feared dead when his yacht, the Bayesian, sank off Porticello near the Sicilian city of Palermo.

Divers are searching the wreckage of the 184ft British-flagged vessel, which rests on the sea bed 160ft below the surface and 1,600ft from shore.

The Bayesian, previously called Salute, was built in 2008 by Perini Navi, an Italian shipyard, alongside yacht designer Ron Holland Design. 

Read the full story here.

Plans to raise the sunken Bayesian from the ocean floor have not yet been discussed by the Italian coast guard.

The luxury yacht is lying intact on its starboard side, 165ft underwater, off the coast of Porticello in Sicily.

Asked if plans had been made to salvage the boat, Vincenzo Zagarola, a spokesman for the coast guard, said: “No, this is not a topic on the agenda. It will be, but not now.”

The Costa Concordia cruise liner, which sank off the Italian island of Giglio in 2012, claiming 32 lives, was not salvaged for more than two years.

The chairman of the Francis Crick Institute has described Mike Lynch as a “human being of great ability”, following confirmation on Thursday of the technology mogul’s death.

Mr Lynch was a member of the Create The Change fundraising board, set up by Cancer Research UK and which helped fund the building of the institute.

Lord John Browne said: “Mike Lynch should be remembered as the person who catalysed a breed of deep tech entrepreneurs in the UK.

“His ideas and his personal vision were a powerful contribution to science and technology in both Britain and globally.

“I send my condolences to those close to him. We have lost a human being of great ability.”

The Italian fire service has shared an update on social media after the fifth body was recovered from the Bayesian. 

Vigili del Fuoco posted a picture of their equipment on X, alongside the caption: “The dives in the sea began in the early hours of the morning and continue for the search and recovery of the last missing person.”

“The body of the fifth victim was recovered and brought ashore by the divers,” they added.

The Royal Academy of Engineering has paid tribute to its “mentor, donor and former council member” Mike Lynch following his reported death in Sicily.

In a statement, the academy said: “The trustee board, fellows and staff of the Royal Academy of Engineering are deeply saddened to learn of the death of Mike Lynch, and send our profound condolences to his family.

“Mike became a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2008 and we have fond memories of the active role he played in the past as a mentor, donor and former council member.

“He was also one of the inaugural members on the enterprise committee.

“Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this time.”

Obtaining testimonies from witnesses “while memories are fresh” will be essential for authorities investigating the Bayesian sinking, a maritime investigator has said.

James Wilkes said authorities will want to speak to those who survived or witnessed the sinking “while the memories are fresh in their mind”.

Mr Wilkes told Sky News: “A lot of the other information can be collected a bit more slowly.”

He said those investigating the sinking will likely want to know what the crew knew about the incoming storm and what preparations had been made.

He added: “Fortunately, 15 people survived. I’d like to explore the circumstances in which they were able to survive the storm and the sinking, to look at the anomalies and work out the difference between those and the people that sadly didn’t survive and combine it all with technical data and simulation.”

The chairman of children’s charity the NSPCC has described Jonathan Bloomer, the former honorary treasurer of the organisation, as “a very kind individual”, after the sinking of the Bayesian.

Speaking about the Morgan Stanley International bank chairman and his wife Judy, who reportedly died after the vessel sank off the coast of Sicily, Neil Berkett said: “We are deeply saddened that the deaths of Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy have been confirmed after the yacht they were on tragically sank off the coast of Sicily.

“Jonathan and Judy were great supporters of the NSPCC over many years, with Jonathan joining our board of trustees in 2008 and serving as the honorary treasurer from 2009 to 2016.

“We remember Jonathan from his time with us as a very kind individual with a great sense of humour and Judy as formidable and passionate.

“We are so grateful for everything they did for children and the NSPCC and our thoughts are with their family, friends and colleagues at this desperately sad time.”

Sir David Davis has vowed to campaign “in memory” of Mike Lynch to scrap the extradition treaty between the US and the UK.

Mr Lynch was charged with fraud in the United States in 2018 and fought being sent there for trial for years until he was extradited in 2023.

He was cleared of fraud by a San Francisco jury in June this year over the multibillion-dollar sale of Autonomy, his software company. Mr Lynch always denied fraud.

The UK-US extradition treaty was implemented in 2003 but Sir David said it was lopsided in favour of the Americans and does not provide adequate protections for British citizens.

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Hannah Lynch, the 18-year-old daughter of British technology tycoon, Mike Lynch, remains missing after the body of her father and four others were recovered from the Bayesian, according to reports.

The Italian coast guard confirmed to the PA news agency that the sixth and final person yet to be found was a woman.

Mr Lynch; his daughter; Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer; his wife, Judy Bloomer; Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo; and his wife, Neda Morvillo, were lost when the Bayesian sank at around 5am on Monday.

The Bayesian was stable and only a massive entry of water could have caused the sinking, according to the company that built the yacht. 

The Italian Sea Group which owns Perini Navi, said in a statement: “The yacht was built in 2008 by the Perini shipyards of Viareggio and the last refit was in 2020.

“The controversies about the mast are sterile controversies because the mast, according to those who have seen it, is intact.

“The retractable keel stabilises the ship, but even without the keel completely out the ship is stable and only a massive entry of water could have caused the sinking which did not happen in a minute as someone wrote.”

The chief executive of the company that built the Bayesian has defended the boat’s construction and blamed human error for the sinking of the vessel.

Giovanni Costantino, founder and CEO of The Italian Sea Group, which owns the Perini Navi that built the Bayesian, told Corriere della Sera.“The passengers reported something absurd, that the storm came unexpectedly, suddenly. That is not true.  Everything was predictable.”

Mr Costantino said the Bayesian was “one of the safest boats in the world” and was virtually “unsinkable”.

He added: “Ask yourself – why were none of the Porticello fishermen out that night? A fisher checks the conditions and a ship doesn’t? The disturbance was completely readable on all the weather maps. It was impossible not to know.”

Mr Costantino said the strong winds had pushed the boat for four minutes in what he called “drifting”.  He claimed the boat then rotated and had begun taking on water before it sank.

Divers in Sicily have recovered the fifth passenger from the sunken superyacht Bayesian after five were discovered in the wreckage yesterday.

On Wednesday Salvatore Cocina, the head of Sicily’s civil protection agency, said that of the five bodies found, only four had been recovered. However on Thursday morning the fifth body was retrieved.

A fire service boat with flashing blue lights returned with a blue body bag to Porticello at just after 8.45am local time on Thursday.

Italian authorities are yet to confirm the identities of those pulled from the water.

The British technology entrepreneur Mike Lynch and his teenage daughter, Hannah, are believed to be among the dead after the £30 million vessel sank on Monday after being hit by a tornado.

Fifteen of the 22 passengers and crew on board, including Mr Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, were rescued by emergency crews after the yacht suffered catastrophic damage owing to the waterspout. 

British authorities are now investigating the exact cause of the sinking.

Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah are believed to be among five bodies found in the search of the luxury superyacht Bayesian on Wednesday.

Four bodies were brought ashore. Salvo Cocina, the director of Sicily’s civil protection agency, told The Telegraph that he believed Mr Lynch and his daughter had been found.

 Here is a recap of what happened yesterday: 

Four bodies were recovered from the sunken superyachtDivers found a fifth body, which they were working to recoverOne person remains missingRemotely controlled underwater vehicles were used with naval units and cave divers to assist with the searchDivers entered the superyacht’s hull by breaking a windowThe captain of the Bayesian was described as a “very good sailor” by his brotherBritish inspectors arrived in Sicily to investigate the yacht sinking

A fifth body has been recovered and brought ashore from the sunken superyacht Bayesian, Italian authorities confirmed. 

Salvo Cocina, the director-general of Sicily’s civil protection agency, told The Telegraph that the body had been recovered from the wreckage, but he did not give any indication of the identity or sex of the individual.

Divers recovered four bodies on Wednesday, with one other passenger still missing. 

Specialist cave divers have been searching for missing passengers in the wreckage of the sunken Bayesian.

They gained access to the £30 million vessel after breaking through a 3cm-thick pane of glass.

The teams have scoured wreckage with the assistance of remotely controlled underwater vehicles. 

The yacht is lying intact on its starboard side, 165ft underwater.

A boat carrying a dive team heads to the site of the sunken superyacht Bayesian. 

A fifth body has now been recovered from the wreckage as the search operations enters its fourth day.   

The designer of Mike Lynch’s superyacht Bayesian is likely to be contacted by British investigators.

The vessel was designed by Ron Holland, a naval architect, who now lives in Vancouver.

Gavin Pritchard, a retired Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) inspector, told The Telegraph that Mr Holland would, in the normal way, be contacted by the MAIB as its investigation into the sinking gathers pace.

Read the full story here.

Prosecutors will investigate the keel on Mike Lynch’s superyacht after it was found “partially elevated”.

On Wednesday, specialist divers continued to recover the remains of the missing passengers, and the tech entrepreneur and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah are believed to be among those pulled out of the water.

While exploring the Bayesian 165ft underwater on the seabed, it was reported that the vessel’s retractable keel was partially raised, raising questions about the boat’s stability at the time of the sinking.

Read the full story here.

The search will resume today for the last remaining passenger of the sunken superyacht Bayesian after the vessel was hit by a tornado on Monday morning.

It comes after five bodies were discovered inside the wreckage yesterday.

Six people, including technology entrepreneur Mike Lynch, were unaccounted for after the vessel was hit by a waterspout at around 5am on Monday causing it to sink.

Salvatore Cocina, the head of Sicily’s civil protection agency, confirmed that of the five bodies found on Wednesday, just four had been recovered. He said the whereabouts of the missing sixth person is not yet known.

Authorities are yet to confirm the identities of those recovered from the wreckage.