Divers recover five bodies from sunken superyacht off Sicily as search continues

NEWS WIRES

21 August 2024 at 10:44 am·2-min read

Scuba divers searching for missing people following the sinking of a superyacht off Sicily in a storm on Monday have found five bodies, bringing the confirmed death toll to six - with one person still missing. The victims include UK tech tycoon Mike Lynch, an entrepreneur sometimes referred to as Britain's Bill Gates, and his 18-year-old daughter.

Divers searching for six people missing after a superyacht sank off Sicily, including UK tech tycoon Mike Lynch, on Wednesday pulled four bodies from the wreck and reportedly found a fifth.

The grim development, after three days of searches since the "Bayesian" went down early on Monday morning, brings the death toll to six -- with one person still missing.

There was no official identification of the bodies but Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah are among those missing since the yacht was scuppered in a storm off the Italian island.

The 56-metre (185 feet) British-flagged sailing boat had been anchored some 700 metres off Porticello, east of Palermo, when it was struck by a waterspout -- akin to a mini-tornado.

It sank within minutes.

Fifteen people were rescued, including Lynch's wife and a woman with a one-year-old baby. But the body of a man, believed to be the yacht's chef, was found several hours later.

Lynch and his daughter, his lawyer Christopher Morvillo and his wife Neda, and Jonathan Bloomer, the chair of Morgan Stanley International, and his wife Judy, were all reported missing.

Several different media outlets later said a fifth body had been found but not yet brought to shore.

(AFP)

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