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Who’s Missing From Sunken Yacht? Tech Mogul Mike Lynch and 5 Others.

Mr. Lynch, the former chief executive of the software firm Autonomy, who was acquitted on fraud charges in June, was with friends and family when the yacht went down in a severe storm.

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By Michael J. de la Merced

Michael de la Merced reported on Mike Lynch’s career and legal battles over the course of 13 years across two continents.

A cruise on the Mediterranean Sea aboard a superyacht was supposed to be a celebratory event for the British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch , who was acquitted in June of fraud charges tied to the sale of his company, Autonomy, to the tech giant Hewlett-Packard.

Instead, it turned into a disaster after the yacht, a 180-foot boat called the Bayesian, sank off the coast of Sicily in a violent storm. Of the 22 passengers aboard, 15 were rescued, one body was recovered and six were still missing. Search operations at the site of the sunken yacht were continuing on Tuesday.

Here’s what we know about the passengers.

Mike Lynch and his family

Mr. Lynch, 59, is a British software entrepreneur who had once been described as his country’s Bill Gates. He founded the software firm Autonomy, which analyzed clients’ unorganized data, and turned it into one of the most prominent British technology companies of its time. He became a widely known corporate leader, who advised David Cameron, the British prime minister at the time, and joined the board of the BBC.

In 2011, Mr. Lynch sold Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard for $11 billion, which was far above its market value, earning him hundreds of millions. But HP investors almost immediately soured on the transaction, and the American tech giant quickly fired its chief executive — and then Mr. Lynch.

HP later accused Mr. Lynch of misleading it about the state of Autonomy’s business, setting off a decade-long legal ordeal for the British executive, who denied the accusations. U.S. prosecutors charged him and other executives with fraud, and Autonomy’s chief financial officer was convicted in 2018.

Despite appeals to the British government, Mr. Lynch was extradited to the United States last year and was confined to a townhouse in San Francisco ahead of his criminal trial, which began in March. Facing the possibility of decades in prison if convicted, Mr. Lynch and another colleague were instead acquitted of all charges.

Mr. Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, 57, accompanied him on the yacht, and she was rescued on Monday when it sank. She was a consistent presence at his trial in the United States. Records show that she controlled Revtom, the company listed as the owner of the Bayesian.

Hannah Lynch, Mr. Lynch and Ms. Bacares’s 18-year-old daughter, was also on the yacht and was among those who were still missing.

The other guests

Among those unaccounted for is Jonathan Bloomer, 70, chair of Morgan Stanley’s international arm and the chairman of Hiscox, an insurance provider that trades on the London Stock Exchange. His wife, Judy Bloomer, 71, is also listed as missing.

“Our thoughts are with all those affected, in particular the Bloomer family, as we all wait for further news from this terrible situation,” Morgan Stanley said in a statement.

Christopher J. Morvillo, 59, a New York-based partner at the international law firm Clifford Chance, is also among those missing. A former federal prosecutor who comes from a family of prominent lawyers, Mr. Morvillo represented Mr. Lynch during his criminal trial in San Francisco. His wife, Neda, 57, was with him on the yacht and is also among those confirmed as missing.

“We are in shock and deeply saddened by this tragic incident,” a representative of Clifford Chance said in a statement.

Survivors include Charlotte Golunski, a partner at Mr. Lynch’s venture firm, Invoke Capital; Ms. Golunski’s husband, James Emslie; and their 1-year-old daughter Sophie. Also rescued were Ayla Ronald, a lawyer at Clifford Chance, and her partner, Matthew Fletcher.

The yacht had a crew of 10. The body of the chef, Recaldo Thomas, was recovered from the water, the Sicilian Civil Protection Department said.

Elisabetta Povoledo contributed reporting, and Kitty Bennett and Susan Campbell Beachy contributed research.

Michael J. de la Merced has covered global business and finance news for The Times since 2006. More about Michael J. de la Merced

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Luxury yacht sinks off Sicily, leaving U.K. tech magnate Mike Lynch, 2 Americans among those missing

By Anna Matranga

Updated on: August 20, 2024 / 7:47 PM EDT / CBS News

Rome  — Six people, including two U.S. nationals, a British technology entrepreneur and one of his daughters, were still missing Tuesday after a large luxury sailing yacht sank off the coast of the southern Italian island of Sicily during a violent storm. The 184-foot Bayesian had been anchored about half a mile off the port of Porticello, near Palermo, with 22 people on board — 10 crew members and 12 passengers.

The vessel sank at about 5 a.m. local time (11 p.m. Eastern, Sunday) after being hit by a possible waterspout spawned by the storm. Italian media said the winds snapped the boat's single mast, unbalancing the vessel and causing it to capsize.

Fifteen of those on board managed to escape the yacht and were rescued by a Dutch-flagged vessel that was anchored in the immediate vicinity. They were brought ashore by Italian Coast Guard and firefighters.

One body — an unidentified male — was recovered, but six people remained missing, including British software magnate Mike Lynch, once described as Britain's Bill Gates. 

Lynch was acquitted in June of fraud charges in the U.S. that could have landed him with a decades-long prison sentence. In an unusual twist, Lynch's co-defendant in that fraud case, who was also acquitted, died Saturday after being hit by a car while out jogging in England.

Lynch's teenage daughter Hannah was also among those missing, along with Lynch's American lawyer Chris Morvillo, a former assistant district attorney in New York, and his wife Neda. British banker Jonathan Bloomer, chairman of Morgan Stanley International, was also still missing Tuesday.

Among the survivors was a 1-year-old British girl who was being treated at a nearby hospital along with her parents. They were doing well, according to Italian media.

"For two seconds I lost my child to the sea, then I immediately was able to grab her again in the fury of the waves," the girl's mother, identified only as Charlotte, was quoted as saying by Italy's ANSA news agency. "I held on to her tightly in the stormy sea. Many were screaming. Luckily the life raft opened up and 11 of us managed to get aboard."

"It was terrible," she told ANSA. "In just a few minutes the boat was hit by a very strong wind, and sunk soon thereafter."

Karsten Borner, the captain of the Dutch vessel that came to the rescue, told ANSA he had been anchored near the Bayesian.

"When the storm was over we noticed that the ship behind us was gone, and then we saw a red flare, so my first mate and I went to the position and we found this life raft drifting, and in the life raft was also a little baby and the wife of the owner."

Recovery efforts were back underway Tuesday, with speedboats, helicopters and divers continuing to search for the missing — as well as for answers, as to how a state-of-the-art superyacht could disappear in a flash. 

According to Italian media, Fire Brigade divers reached the boat and saw bodies trapped inside some of the cabins, but they had been unable to recover any of the victims from inside the vessel by Tuesday, due to obstructions. The Bayesian appeared to have sunk in an area with a depth of about 160 feet.

Witnesses said the boat sank quickly. 

"I was at home when the tornado hit," fisherman Pietro Asciutto told a local news outlet. "I immediately closed all the windows. Then I saw the boat, it had only one mast, it was very large. I suddenly saw it sink... The boat was still floating, then suddenly it disappeared. I saw it sink with my own eyes."

The director-general of Sicily's civil protection agency, Salvatore Cocina, confirmed to CBS News partner BBC News  that three of the six people still missing Monday were British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, whose company Autonomy Corporation PLC was acquired in 2011 by HP ; one of his daughters, Hannah Lynch, who is believed to be 18; and the boat's chef, Ricardo Thomas.

CBS News has seen corporate documentation showing a company called Revtom, solely owned by Lynch's wife Angela Bacares, who was among those rescued from the accident, as the owner of the yacht that capsized off Sicily. 

While the yacht was a privately owned pleasure boat, the waters around the island have claimed many lives over the last decade.

Dozens of migrants have died attempting to reach Sicily and smaller Italian islands in the region. Sicily sits only about 100 miles from the east coast of Tunisia in north Africa, and the Mediterranean crossing has been a frequent site of both nautical rescues and disasters as smugglers routinely send small boats overloaded with desperate people into the sea.

Alex Sundby , Joanne Stocker and Chris Livesay contributed to this report.

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Family clings to hope of air pocket in sunken superyacht as debris hampers search

PORTICELLO, Sicily — Divers searching for six missing people from a superyacht which sank off the coast of Sicily told NBC News Wednesday that debris inside the vessel, as well as its depth, were making their job difficult.  

As hopes of finding anyone alive dwindled, the divers said that they had managed to force open one of the Bayesian’s access doors but access to the cabins where people could be trapped was being hampered by detritus. 

The divers, who were not authorized to speak publicly, added that the depth of the wreck meant they were left with only 10 minutes to search the 184-foot yacht once they reached it. Then they had to return to the surface, they said. 

On Wednesday, the dock where they set off from was swarming with vehicles, boats and rescuers. Nearby tourists, reporters and photographers have gathered, eager for news. Helicopters occasionally fly over the area.  

British tech tycoon Mike Lynch and five of the 22 other people who were aboard the yacht remain unaccounted for and are believed to be trapped in the Bayesian’s hull, nearly 170 feet underwater.

Lynch's 18-year-old daughter, Hannah; Morgan Stanley International Chairman Jonathan Bloomer and his wife, Judy; and Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife, Neda, are also missing. 

Officials confirmed Monday that at least one person, the ship’s cook, had died. 

Rescuers said Tuesday that there might be people trapped inside the cabins, especially considering the timing of the storm, but that they had so far been unable to check through the ship’s portholes.

“The operations are long and complex,” Italy’s national fire department, whose diving teams have been participating in the search, said on X . 

Italy's coast guard also said Tuesday that divers were also using a remotely-operated underwater vehicle to aid in the search.

The Bayesian is owned by a firm linked to Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, who was one of the 15 people rescued Monday after it capsized near Sicily’s main city of Palermo in what Italian officials called a “violent storm.” 

Built by Italian shipbuilder Perini Navi in 2008, the U.K.-registered Bayesian could carry 12 guests and a crew of up to 10, according to online specialist yacht sites. Its nearly 250-foot mast is the tallest aluminum sailing mast in the world, according to CharterWorld Luxury Yacht Charters.  

Lynch, who was regularly described in U.K. media as “Britain’s Bill Gates,” was acquitted by a San Francisco jury of fraud charges stemming from the 2011 sale of his software company Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard for $11 billion.

Prosecutors alleged that Lynch and Autonomy’s vice president for finance, Stephen Chamberlain, had padded the firm’s finances ahead of the sale. Lynch’s lawyers argued that HP was so eager to acquire Autonomy that it failed to adequately check the books .

The Mediterranean sailing vacation was designed to be a celebration for Lynch, who brought Morvillo, one of his U.S. lawyers and Bloomer, who testified in his defense, on the trip.

Bloomer’s twin brother, Jeremy, told the BBC on Tuesday the family was “coping the best we can” and he was hopeful there might still be air pockets inside the hull. 

Chamberlain was not aboard the Bayesian.

In what appears to be a tragic coincidence, a car struck and killed Chamberlain on Saturday as he was jogging in a village about 68 miles north of London, local police said.

Claudio Lavanga and Claudia Rizzo reported from Porticello and Yuliya Talmazan from London. 

Claudio Lavanga is Rome-based foreign correspondent for NBC News.

Yuliya Talmazan is a reporter for NBC News Digital, based in London.

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Mike Lynch yacht latest: British tech entrepreneur’s body recovered but teenage daughter still missing

Tech mogul’s superyacht capsized in storm with his 18-year-old daughter Hannah among passengers

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Italian authorities are continuing the search for the 18-year-old daughter of tech tycoon Mike Lynch, who has been identified as one of the five bodies recovered from the Bayesian superyacht wreckage.

The Italian Coast Guard also confirmed that the bodies of Jonathan Bloomer , his wife Judith Bloomer, lawyer Christopher Morvillo and his wife Neda Morvillo were all recovered.

The boat sank in a severe storm in the early hours of Monday , with the bodies of four people, one of whom belonged to a “heavily-built man”, recovered on Wednesday.

The head of Sicily’s civil protection agency Salvatore Cocina said that the priority remained focused on searching for the missing sixth passenger.

One man, the boat’s chef Recaldo Thomas, was confirmed dead on Monday, while a further 15 people survived the disaster.

Have you been affected by this story? Email [email protected]

Morgan Stanley banker Jonathan Bloomer confirmed dead by authorities

Morgan Stanley banker Jonathan Bloomer has been identified as one of the five bodies recovered from the wreckage of the Bayesian.

Mr Bloomer, 70, had been called to the stand during a court case involving Mike Lynch.

The banker was the chairman of the audit committee at Autonomy, the company owned by Mr Lynch which was being investigated in a high-profile fraud case relating to a 2011 sale.

Mr Bloomer has been chairman of Morgan Stanley International since 2018, after starting his career in 1974 at the defunct accounting firm Arthur Anderson.

Mike Lynch identified as dead while daughter is still missing

The body of British tech magnate Mike Lynch was retrieved on Thursday from the wreck of a yacht that sank earlier this week off Sicily during a tempest.

Lynch’s 18-year daughter Hannah is still missing.

Jonathan Bloomer, his wife Judith Bloomer, Christopher Morvillo and his wife Neda Morvillo have also been identified by Italy’s coast guard.

Divers facing search operation plagued with difficulties

The search operation to find the missing has been described as “complex” from the offset, with the boat sitting 50m below the surface of the sea.

Debris and furniture has cluttered the narrow passageways of the yacht, with divers only having 10 minutes underwater before they could suffer from nausea, known as ‘the bends’.

Fire crews from the Vigili del Fuoco said they have been accessing the vessel through natural entrances, without making openings.

Remotely controlled underwater vehicles have been used, with naval units and cave divers also taking part in the search, the Italian Coastguard has said.

Priority is finding the final passenger, says head of civil protection agency

Salvatore Cocina, the head of Sicily’s civil protection agency, confirmed that the fifth body had been recovered on Thursday, following the recovery of four others on Wednesday.

Identities of the bodies have not been confirmed by authorities, despite local and international media reporting some had been identified.

Searches resumed on Thursday morning, with Mr Cocina saying there will be an investigation in due course, but the priority is finding the final missing passenger.

The ship’s captain, James Cutfield, was reportedly questioned by authorities for two hours as they began speaking to all crew members.

Watch live: Italy rescuers search for final missing person from sunken Bayesian superyacht

Live: Italy rescuers search for final missing person from sunken Bayesian superyacht

Rescuers search for the final missing person from the Bayesian superyacht which sank off the coast of Sicily

Fifth body brought ashore by Italian search teams

The fifth body located by Italian search teams has been recovered from the sunken Bayesian yacht and brought to shore.

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.

Seven key unanswered questions around the sinking of the Bayesian

With the Bayesian lying on her side 50 metres underneath the now gentle waters of the Mediterranean, mystery still surrounds how the 56-metre superyacht, sank in the typhoon off the port of Porticello.

Remotely controlled underwater vehicles and cave divers are looking to raise the yacht, which experts will examine in the coming days.

It will take weeks for Ambrogio Cartosio, the chief prosecutor of Termini Imerese, and his team to establish whether the sinking of the Bayesian was down to human error, an unpredictable weather event or whether anyone is liable.

They have said they will interview the survivors in the coming days – some of whom were pictured leaving the Domina Zagarella hotel in Santa Flavia, which has become the headquarters for survivors, police and rescuers.

My colleague Barney Davis takes a look at some of the key unanswered questions in this report:

The key unanswered questions around the tragic sinking of the Bayesian

With the search continuing of the sunken Bayesian an investigation has been launched to establish what caused the disaster off the coast of Sicily

Search to resume for remaining person missing after luxury yacht disaster

The search will resume for the remaining person missing after a luxury yacht sank in a storm off the coast of Sicily following the discovery of five bodies inside the wreck, reports Ellie Ng .

Salvatore Cocina, the head of Sicily’s civil protection agency, confirmed that of the five bodies found on Wednesday, only four had been recovered, and the whereabouts of the missing sixth person remain unknown.

Identities of the recovered bodies have not been confirmed by authorities, despite local and international media reporting some had been identified. Body bags were seen being taken to the port of Porticello on Wednesday afternoon, with the process of bringing the fifth body to shore being described by Mr Cocina as “ongoing”.

He said searches will resume on Thursday morning, and that there will be an investigation in due course, but the priority is finding the missing.

Mike Lynch yacht sinking latest: Fifth body found inside Bayesian sunken off Sicily

British tourist held baby above waves after yacht sank, italian doctor says.

An Italian doctor at the hospital where British tourist Charlotte Emsley and her one-year-old daughter were taken said the mother held her baby above the waves after the yacht sank.

Dr Domenico Cipolla, of Di Cristina Children’s Hospital in Palermo, told the PA news agency: “The child and the mother went to the hotel near Porticello on Tuesday, they are both in a good condition.

“Obviously the mother and the husband were so shaken by what has happened, it was a tragedy for them.

“She told me that two minutes after falling asleep with her baby they were in the water, she did not understand how this happened, it went dark. Her partner was not with her, he was in another room.

“She held the child high in her arms above the waves, for a few seconds the baby was in the water but she saved her.”

Mapped: Where Bayesian sank off coast of Sicily as search enters fourth day

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Sailing yachts like Mike Lynch's are 'unsinkable bodies', CEO of boat manufacturing firm says

Bayesian superyacht which sank off Italy is an "unsinkable" vessel, Giovanni Costantino, CEO of The Italian Sea Group, said.

By Ashna Hurynag, news correspondent and Eleonora Chiarella, producer

Thursday 22 August 2024 05:43, UK

Vessels like Mike Lynch's stricken superyacht are "unsinkable", according to the chief executive of the firm which makes and sells them.

Giovanni Costantino, CEO of The Italian Sea Group, told Sky News there are no flaws with the design and construction of the Bayesian superyacht which capsized in a storm off the coast of Porticello, Sicily, on Monday.

Five bodies were found by divers on Wednesday - taking the number of confirmed dead to six.

The Italian Sea Group also owns the firm that built British tech tycoon Mr Lynch's Bayesian, and Mr Costantino said the vessels "are the safest in the most absolute sense".

"Being the manufacturer of Perini [boats], I know very well how the boats have always been designed and built," he said.

"And as Perini is a sailing ship... sailing ships are renowned to be the safest ever."

He said their structure and keel made them "unsinkable bodies".

Read more on this story: Why search of superyacht wreck has been so difficult Hero mum 'slept with baby on deck when storm sank yacht'

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Mr Costantino said news of the sinking "put me in a state of sadness on one side and of disbelief on the other".

"This incident sounds like an unbelievable story, both technically and as a fact," he said.

It is understood Italian prosecutors investigating the incident are continuing to hold interviews with the survivors.

On Tuesday they questioned the captain for more than two hours to help reconstruct what happened and provide useful technical details.

Four British inspectors are also in Porticello and have begun a preliminary assessment of events.

It is understood they will look at all relevant aspects of the incident, including the design, stability, and operation of the vessel. They will also examine the effects of the weather conditions experienced.

Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News

Twenty-two people were on board the vessel, 15 of whom were rescued - including Briton Charlotte Golunski and her one-year-old daughter Sofia.

Divers will resume efforts on Thursday morning to bring ashore a body they found earlier. One more person remains missing.

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Twin of missing banker jonathan bloomer hopeful ‘air pockets’ are keeping bayesian yacht passengers alive.

The twin brother of the Morgan Stanley chairman missing after the Bayesian superyacht sank off the coast of Italy said there may be air pockets in the sunken vessel keeping those yet to be found alive.

Morgan Stanley Bank International chair Jonathan Bloomer’s twin brother, Jeremy, said their family is anxiously awaiting news on his sibling’s condition after the banker and his wife, Judy, went missing when the superyacht capsized and sank during a violent storm Monday.

“They’re still going down to the wreck, they can’t get through at the moment because of the debris in the way,” Jeremy Bloomer told BBC.

“It’s a slow process, and it will take time. There might be air pockets but we don’t know,” he added.

Jeremy said the only news the family had received was confirmation that his brother was on the yacht, but that the family is doing the best they can to support each other.

“He was my elder by half an hour, so, it means a lot when you lose a twin brother. We’ll still wait and see, so it’s fingers crossed,” he said.

In addition to the Bloomers, British tech tycoon Mike Lynch , his 18-year-old daughter, Hannah, top New York City  lawyer Christopher Morvillo and his wife, Neda, a jewelry designer, are also still missing.

One person, the ship’s on-board chef, was killed when the yacht capsized off the coast of Sicily early Monday.

Captain James Catfield, who piloted the 184-foot, British-flagged ship, was among the 15 crew members and passengers to survive.

While authorities have said the chances of passengers surviving the disaster were very small, they did not rule out the possibility.

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'We Are in Shock,' Prominent N.Y.C. Attorney's Firm Says After He and His Wife Go Missing in Yacht Sinking

"Our utmost priority is providing support to the family," a spokesperson for Clifford Chance says

Diane Herbst is a reporter at PEOPLE.

Scott Eells/Bloomberg via Getty

Prominent New York City attorney Christopher Morvillo and his wife, Neda Morvillo, remain missing along with four others after the yacht they were on sank off the coast of Sicily this week following a serious storm.

While search efforts have continued, many of the investigators involved now presume the missing are dead after becoming trapped on the Bayesian as it went into the water early on Monday, Aug. 19.

"We are in shock and deeply saddened by this tragic incident," a spokesperson for Christopher Morvillo's law firm, Clifford Chance, says in a statement to PEOPLE.

"Our thoughts are with our Partner, Christopher Morvillo, and his wife Neda who are among the missing, and with their families," the spokesperson continues.

The Italian coast guard previously said that 22 people were on the Bayesian , including 12 passengers and 10 crew.

Fifteen people were soon rescued after the yacht sank, according to the coast guard, and a body was also retrieved near the vessel and later identified in news reports as the chef, Ricardo Thomas.

Never miss a story — sign up for  PEOPLE's free daily newsletter  to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Scott Eells/Bloomberg/Getty

A source close to the survivors tells PEOPLE that the yacht trip was a celebratory one after British businessman Mike Lynch was acquitted in June in a financial fraud trial in the U.S.

"That's why he took his closest friends and colleagues on the trip," the source says. Lynch remains missing along with his daughter, Hannah; his wife, Angela Bacares, was among those rescued from the yacht.

Christopher Morvillo had represented Lynch in the fraud case. Other firm employees were on the Bayesian as well, according to the Clifford Chance spokesperson.

"Our utmost priority is providing support to the family as well as our colleague Ayla Ronald, who together with her partner, thankfully survived the incident," the spokesperson says in their statement. "Our thoughts extend to the other passengers and crew and all those affected. We have no further comment at this time. We, and the families, ask that their request for privacy is honored during this period."

Morvillo's biography on the Clifford Chance website details extensive legal experience: A New York-based attorney, he previously worked as a federal prosecutor and "assisted in the criminal investigation arising out of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks," among other trials.

His wife, Neda, has been described by news outlets including the BBC as a a designer of fine jewelry.

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Horror CCTV captures final moments of superyacht before it sank off coast of Italian island Sicily

Horrifying new CCTV has captured the final moments of a $59 million superyacht that sank with 22 people on board when it was struck by a tornado-like storm.

Hostesses on doomed yacht reveal horror

Qantas text you never want to open

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Disturbing CCTV footage has captured the moment a $59 million superyacht was engulfed by a tornado-like waterspout that would eventually sink it “in just 60 seconds”.

In one surveillance video, the lights of the doomed luxury sailing yacht slowly disappear as it is swallowed by heavy rain just off the coast of the Italian island of Sicily.

It’s understood another clip, captured by the cameras of a villa just 200 metres from the boat but not yet released, captures the exact moment it sinks with 22 passengers on board.

“In just sixty seconds you can see the ship disappear,” the owner of the villa told Italian news agency ANSA.

“Of about twenty cameras installed in the house, only one was not disturbed by the wind and rain. You can clearly see what is happening.

“There was nothing that could be done for the boat. It disappeared in a very short time.”

The 56-metre British-flagged sailing yacht Bayesian was anchored roughly 700 metres from port with 10 crew and 12 passengers on board when it was struck before dawn on Monday.

“At around 4:00am, all hell broke loose,” local fisherman Giovanni Lococco told AFP on Tuesday as he surveyed rescuers searching for six people missing.

Divers continue search for six missing people

Specialist divers spent a second day on Tuesday searching for six people believed trapped 50 metres below the surface, including a British tech tycoon and his teenage daughter.

Fifteen people, including a mother and her one-year-old baby, were rescued but the body of one man - believed to be the yacht’s chef - was found.

Divers have opened a hole in the hull of the yacht to get in through another direction, but furniture has made it impossible to move through the inside of the boat and reach the cabins.

As time runs out, the brave search and rescue workers only have 10 minutes working in the water at a time.

Haunting final post of missing lawyer

The passengers were guests of Lynch - a renowned tech entrepreneur and investor sometimes referred to as the UK’s answer to Bill Gates - celebrating his recent acquittal in a massive US fraud case.

Lynch, 59, was acquitted on all charges in a San Francisco court in early June after he was accused of an $11 billion fraud linked to the sale of his software firm Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard.

Lynch’s wife Angela Bacares was among 15 people rescued, but the businessman and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah are missing, according to Salvo Cocina, head of the Civil Protection Agency in Sicily.

The chair of Morgan Stanley International, Jonathan Bloomer, who testified for Lynch in the US case, was also missing alongside his wife, Judy, the UK insurer Hiscox said on Tuesday.

Bloomer is also the chair of Hiscox, which issued a statement saying it was “deeply shocked and saddened” by the incident.

Christopher Morvillo, a partner at law firm Clifford Chance, who represented Lynch, was also on the boat along with his jewellery designer wife Neda, media reports said.

In an eerie final post on LinkedIn before the tragedy, Morvillo, 59, thanked his legal team for their work on the fraud case before dedicating a paragraph to his family.

At the end of hte post, he wrote: “And, finally, a huge thank you to my patient and incredible wife, Neda Morvillo, and my two strong, brilliant, and beautiful daughters, Sabrina Morvillo and Sophia Morvillo.”

“None of this would have been possible without your love and support. I am so glad to be home. And they all lived happily ever after….”

Rescue mission ‘very complicated’

Mr Cari told Italian news agency ANSA the rescue mission was “very complicated”.

“Inside the sailing ship the spaces are very small and if you encounter an obstacle it is very complicated to advance, and it is also very difficult to find alternative routes,” he said.

He said divers had only been able to reach the bridge deck, which was “full of electrical cables”.

It’s understood that debris is blocking the divers’ access to cabins where the missing passengers may have been when the vessel went under.

“We have identified a glass window through which we could enter. But it is closed from the inside and is three centimetres thick, so we need to be able to remove it and then we can advance better inside,” Mr Cari added.

One diver told Italian media the superyacht was “practically intact” and lying on its side at the bottom of the ocean.

Grim development: “Still inside the boat”

Vincenzo Zagarola of the Italian Coastguard said it was likely the six missing bodies were trapped inside the yacht.

“We think they are still inside the boat, that is our very hard idea. Our search and rescue activity by sea and air has gone on for around 36 hours,” he told PA news agency.

“Of course, we do not exclude that they are not inside the boat, but we know the boat sank quickly.

“We suppose that the six people missing may not have had time to get out of the boat.”

Francesco Venuto, a spokesperson for Sicily’s civil protection agency, agreed.

“(We) think (the bodies) must be in there. We’ve been searching all day with helicopters and boats, we’ve found nothing. That wouldn’t make sense... in (these) conditions we should have found something by now,” he told the BBC.

The Italian coastguard said it was “difficult to imagine” a positive outcome given the time that had elapsed since the yacht sank.

“Given the time that has passed and the circumstances of the event, it is naturally difficult to imagine that things can go well but we are not giving up, so we are busy [searching for them] with naval and air resources,” Frigate Captain Vincenzo Zagarola told Italian media.

Captain of nearby ship says water “way too hot”

The captain of a nearby ship that helped rescue passengers in the aftermath of the incident spoke to Reuters about the moment he noticed the superyacht had vanished

“I don’t absolutely know what they did. I only know that they went flat with a mast on the water and that they sank in two minutes,” he told the agency.

He said the abormally high sea temperature - 30C - was “way too hot for the Mediterranean, and this causes, for sure, heavy storms”.

‘Tight spaces’

Divers trained to work in tight spaces were flown in from Rome and Sardinia late Monday, but the search was made difficult by the fact the yacht remains largely intact.

Marco Tilotta, from the Palermo fire service divers’ unit, said some of the divers had worked on the wreck of the Costa Concordia cruise ship, which sank off Tuscany in 2012, killing 32 people.

Tilotta told AFP that search efforts were concentrated on getting inside the sleeping and living areas of the yacht, which was lying on its side in one piece.

The luxury vessel was moored off Porticello, east of Palermo, when violent winds and rains suddenly swept up the coast.

“It was terrible. The boat was hit by really strong wind and shortly after it went down,” survivor Charlotte Golunski told ANSA news agency.

Golunski, board director at Luminance, a company founded by Lynch, lost hold of her one-year-old daughter in the waves “for two seconds”, before managing to grab her “while the sea raged”.

“Lots of people were screaming” in the dark, said Golunski, who managed to get on a life raft.

Mast ‘snapped’

The Bayesian was built by the Italian shipbuilding firm Perini Navi in 2008, boasting a 75-metre mast, the tallest aluminium sailing mast in the world, according to the Charter World website.

A photograph posted on social media Monday by the Baia Santa Nicolicchia bar in Porticello showed the yacht all lit up, its towering mast shining in the darkness, just a few hours before the storm hit.

A waterspout is a column that descends from a cloud to form a rotating mixture of wind and water over a body of water, often during severe thunderstorms.

Karsten Borner, the captain of another yacht anchored nearby at the time of the storm, said there was a “very strong hurricane gust” and he had to battle to keep his vessel steady.

Borner saw the Bayesian’s mast “bend and then snap”, according to Italy’s Corriere della Sera daily.

More Coverage

Italian authorities have opened a probe into the incident, while the UK’s marine accident investigation branch is sending four inspectors to Palermo.

The boat is reported to be owned by Lynch’s family, and is named after the Bayesian statistical theory, which assesses the probability of something happening.

A pair of young hostesses who survived the Bayesian sinking have told of the terror of being ensnared by the fierce storm.

An Australian passenger has opened up about the seemingly innocent text from Qantas that cost him $600.

A light plane has been forced to make an emergency landing in a Sydney park after engine failure.

News Wrap: Golan Heights damaged by Hezbollah rocket attack on Israel

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In our news wrap Wednesday, Hezbollah fired more than 50 rockets toward Israel, Congo health authorities reported more than 1,000 mpox cases in the last week, divers recovered five more bodies from the luxury yacht that sank off Sicily’s coast, Russia says Ukraine launched a large drone attack on Moscow, and revised data showed the U.S. economy added fewer jobs than previously reported.

Read the Full Transcript

Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors.

William Brangham:

Hezbollah fired more than 50 rockets towards Israel today, some causing damage in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights. Israel's ambulance service reported the projectiles hit several private homes and injured one person, causing alarm among community members.

Einav Perez, Golan Heights Resident (through interpreter):

Some of the residents want to leave. Others are patriots who want to stay. But it cannot continue this way. Every sound of a door shutting makes us think it's a boom. This time, it wasn't a door, but a serious boom that cost us a lot.

Hezbollah says the barrage was in response to Israeli airstrikes deep inside Lebanon.

Residents of one Lebanese village held a funeral today for a man they say was killed in an Israeli attack. It comes a day after Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with mediators in the region to push a proposal aimed at bridging the gaps in the Gaza cease-fire talks. Egyptian officials reportedly expressed skepticism today that Hamas would in fact accept that proposal. Talks are expected to resume in Cairo tomorrow.

Health authorities in Congo say they have recorded more than 1,000 mpox cases in the last week amid an urgent need for vaccines. Congo accounts for more than 90 percent of the cases reported in Africa so far this year. Last week, the WHO classified the outbreak as a global health emergency.

African officials say Western nations in Japan have pledged several hundred thousand vaccine doses, but Congo's health minister says the country alone needs some three million doses to control the outbreak.

In Italy, divers found five more bodies while searching the luxury yacht that sank off the coast of Sicily on Monday. Recovery crews unloaded body bags from a rescue vessel in Porticello. They're still searching for one final missing person. Fifteen other passengers and crew escaped in a lifeboat and were rescued.

Authorities say they believe the British-flagged Bayesian, seen here in file video, was struck by a tornado on the water, which is known as a water spout. But questions remain as to why the yacht sank so quickly.

Russian officials say that Ukraine launched one of its largest drone attacks on Moscow last night since Russia's invasion in 2022. Russia claims to have struck down 45 drones, including 11 over Moscow itself. There has been no independent verification of those figures.

That comes as Ukraine digs in to defend the city of Pokrovsk in Eastern Ukraine from Russian advances. Its capture would be an important victory for Russia, as Ukraine pushes forward with its own incursion further north in Russia's Kursk region.

In Moscow today, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Ukraine's military advances there undermine any chances for peace talks.

Maria Zakharova, Spokeswoman, Russian Foreign Ministry (through interpreter):

Who will negotiate with them after this, after the atrocities, the terror that they are committing against peaceful residents, the civilian population, infrastructure and peaceful facilities?

Ukraine's military claims to have taken nearly 500 square miles in Kursk since it first entered Russian territory earlier this month.

Back here in the U.S., the economy added far fewer jobs last year and into 2024 than previously reported. In its revised data out today, the Labor Department said that there were 818,000 fewer jobs created between April of last year and this March. That's an average of 174,000 jobs per month, far fewer than the 242,000 that was initially reported. This downgrade follows a disappointing report last month and comes as the U.S. Federal Reserve considers whether to cut interest rates next month.

On Wall Street today, stocks ended slightly higher after the Fed raised hopes of an interest rate cut next month. The Dow Jones industrial average added 55 points, inching closer to the 41000-point level. The Nasdaq tacked on more than 100 points for a ninth win in 10 sessions. The S&P 500 also ended higher on the day.

And we have two passings of note.

New Jersey Congressman Bill Pascrell Jr. Died earlier this morning. The 14-term Democrat was a fixture of his hometown of Paterson, where he had served as mayor, before running for Congress in 1996. Pascrell was a long time advocate for emergency responders and sat on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee. No cause of death has been announced, but he had been in and out of the hospital for months.

Congressman Bill Pascrell was 87 years old.

Also today, NBA Hall of Famer Al Attles has died. As one of the first Black head coaches in the league, Attles led the Golden State warriors to a championship in 1975. Attles, seen here defending a pass in 1963, was known as the Destroyer for his particularly physical style of play.

He spent six decades with the Warriors as a player, a general manager, and team ambassador. It is the longest stint by a player with the same franchise in NBA history. Al Attles was 87 years old.

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Russian oligarch's seized yacht costs $7 million a year to maintain, US says

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Reports on the New York federal courts. Previously worked as a correspondent in Venezuela and Argentina.

Russia opens a criminal case against CNN reporter for 'illegally crossing border'

Russia's FSB security service said on Thursday it had opened a criminal case against a journalist working for CNN who it said had illegally crossed the Russian border to film a report inside the Kursk region following a Ukrainian cross-border incursion.

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Moscow sees one of Ukraine's largest drone attacks as fighting rages in Kursk and eastern Ukraine

Russia Ukraine War Ukrainian servicemen of 148th separate artillery brigade of the Air Assault Forces prepare M777 howitzer to fire towards Russian positions at the frontline in Donetsk region, Ukraine, Wednesday, August 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) (Evgeniy Maloletka/AP)

MOSCOW — (AP) — Moscow came under one of the largest attacks by Ukrainian drones since the start of fighting in 2022, Russian authorities reported Wednesday, saying they destroyed all of those headed toward the country's capital.

The attacks came as Ukrainian forces continue to push into Russia's western Kursk region . In the past week, they have also struck three bridges, several airfields and an oil depot in a sign they are not letting up on their attacks.

Late Wednesday, the governor of Russia's Bryansk, which borders both Kursk and Ukraine, said Russian forces turned back a Ukrainian attempt to enter that region.

Governor Alexander Bogomaz identified the Ukrainian forces as a “sabotage and reconnaissance group” but did not specify if they were part of Ukraine's military. He said on the Telegram channel that the attempted incursion was in the area of Klimovo, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) west of the section of Kursk held by Ukrainian forces.

"This was one of the biggest attempts of all time to attack Moscow using drones," Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram. Strong defenses around the Russian capital made it possible to shoot down all the drones before they could hit their intended targets, he said.

Russia said it downed 45 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 11 over the Moscow region. There was no independent information to verify those figures. Some Russian social media channels shared videos of drones apparently being destroyed by air defense systems, which then set off car alarms.

Ukrainian drone strikes have brought the fight far from the front line into the heart of Russia, targeting Moscow and Russia's second city St. Petersburg , as well as an airport in western Russia , according to Russian officials.

Since the beginning of the year, Ukraine has stepped up aerial assaults on Russian soil , targeting refineries and oil terminals to slow down the Kremlin's assault .

A fire at an oil depot targeted by Ukraine burned for the fourth day Wednesday in Rostov, a region in southwestern Russia that borders Ukraine. Priests from the Russian Orthodox Church held prayers for injured firefighters as dark plumes of smoke rose from the depot in Proletarsk, according to a photo shared on social media by the Volgodonsk diocese.

Ukraine's daring land incursion into Russia has raised morale in Ukraine with its surprising success and changed the dynamic of the fighting. But it is also risky — Ukrainian forces were already badly stretched, with fighting underway along a stretch of over 970 kilometers (600 miles). The gains in Kursk come as Ukraine continues to lose ground in the eastern industrial region of Donbas.

The Russian state news agency Tass reported that 31 people had died since Ukraine’s incursion started Aug. 6, figures that are impossible to verify. It said 143 people were injured, of whom 79 were hospitalized, including four children.

A Ukrainian drone dropped an explosive device on a car in the Bolshesoldatsky area of Kursk, slightly northeast of the town of Sudzha, the acting governor Alexei Smirnov said. One woman was killed and two others were hospitalized, he said.

Russia’s Central Electoral Commission announced that local elections in six districts and one city of the Kursk region scheduled for Sept. 8 will be postponed and rescheduled when voters' safety can be guaranteed.

Maria Zakharova, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, said Ukraine’s attack on Kursk has ended “any possibility” of peace negotiations.

“Who will negotiate with them after this, after the atrocities, the terror that they are committing against peaceful residents, the civilian population, civilian infrastructure and peaceful facilities,” she told reporters Wednesday in Moscow.

Ukraine said it was respecting the Geneva Conventions, the international humanitarian rules of war . Ukraine's Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said the Ukrainian military established an office in the Kursk region to provide humanitarian and medical aid to the local population. More than 90% of Russian civilians who stayed in Kursk territory currently controlled by Ukraine are age 60 and older, he said.

“We have no right to leave them there to die," Klymenko said, according to the Ukrinform national news agency.

Ukraine's attacks on three bridges over the Seym River in Kursk could potentially trap Russian forces between the river, the Ukrainian advance and Ukraine's border. Already they appear to be slowing Russia's response to the Kursk incursion.

Ukrainian forces seem to be striking Russian pontoon bridges and pontoon engineering equipment over the Seym in an area west of the Ukrainian advance point, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said Tuesday.

Satellite photos from Planet Labs PBC analyzed Wednesday by The Associated Press show a significant fire on the Seym, near the village of Krasnooktyabrskoe.

The blaze appeared on the northern bank of the river on Tuesday, with another fire seemingly in the village itself. Such fires are common after strikes and often signify where ongoing front-line combat is taking place.

The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces had thwarted attack attempts by Ukrainian assault groups in the Kursk region, according to a report from Tass. Ukraine’s armed forces saw more than 45 soldiers killed or wounded over the past 24 hours, and two were captured while attempting to attack the Kursk region, Tass said. There was no independent confirmation of those numbers and no comment from the Ukrainian side.

In other developments:

— A Russian prosecutor's office has filed a request at the military court in Rostov-on-Don asking for sentences of 16 to 24 years in prison for 23 Ukrainian prisoners of war. They’re accused of terrorism and actions aimed at violent seizure of power. All served in the Ukrainian Azov battalion, including nine women who mostly served as cooks.

— An AP analysis of drone strike data by Ukraine’s armed forces shows that missiles and drones have consistently been launched from Russia's Kursk region. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said the aim of the Kursk operation was to create a “buffer zone” to better protect Ukraine from Russian attacks.

Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.

Follow developments at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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Investigation found that Clarence Thomas took free yacht, helicopter trips in Russia: Democrats

A Senate Judiciary Committee investigation found that conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas failed to disclose at least 35 luxury gifts, including a free yacht trip to Russia and a private helicopter to a palace in St. Petersburg, Vladimir Putin's hometown, Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and Ron Wyden, D-Or., said  in a letter  to Attorney General Merrick Garland.

The letter raised the "serious possibility of tax fraud" and accused Thomas of having "secretly accepted gifts and income potentially worth millions of dollars," mostly from billionaire real estate developer Harlan Crow, who Thomas once described as being among his "dearest friends." Buried in appendix list on page 14 are the references to the Russia trips, which took place in 2003. Other gifts from Crow include "multiple instances of free private jet travel, yacht travel, and lodging," "gifts of tuition for Justice Thomas's grandnephew," "real estate transactions," "home renovations," and "free rent for Justice Thomas's mother."

“The Senate is not a prosecutorial body, and the Supreme Court has no fact-finding function of its own, making the executive role all the more important if there is ever to be any complete determination of the facts,” the letter reads.

After a bombshell ProPublica report last year that revealed the extent of Thomas' financial ties with Crow and attempts to hide it, Thomas admitted to taking three trips on a private plane owned by Crow, but did not disclose any of the other gifts.

The senators are asking Garland to launch a special counsel investigation into Thomas, with the evidence collected so far "plainly suggest[ing] that Justice Thomas has committed numerous willful violations of federal ethics and false-statement laws and raises significant questions about whether he and his wealthy benefactors have complied with their federal tax obligations."

In a separate move on Wednesday, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and a group of fellow progressives filed articles of impeachment against Thomas and Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito for failing to disclose "millions of dollars in gifts from individuals with business before the court."

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The biggest news stories that shaped the yachting industry in 2023

2023 was a busy year for the yachting sector, with new launches sailing out of the construction sheds and innovations in the path towards more sustainable yachting really taking shape this year. BOAT looks back at the top news stories you may have missed...

Oceanco completes first-of-its-kind rebuild of H3

Dutch shipyard Oceanco made waves with the never-before-seen rebuild of H3 . Formerly the 95-metre Indian Empress , the rebuild saw the yacht extended, restyled and completely transformed from the hull up. The yacht’s completely modern new look and the scope of the work involved was revealed for the first time in the November 2023 edition of BOAT International .

More about this yacht

Savannah hits the market.

Feadship 's 2015-built 83.5-metre Savannah , one of the most iconic yachts in the fleet, was officially announced for sale in September with Edmiston . The yacht is famous for her glossy metallic silhouette and long list of amenities, including a semi-submerged Neptune lounge and an intimate dance room in the bow. Her asking price is undisclosed. 

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Lammouche and obsidian pioneer use of biofuel.

The 44-metre Sanlorenzo yacht Lammouche marked one of the first yachts to trial HVO (hydrogenated vegetable oil) in a high-profile experiment that saw the yacht take delivery of 15,000 litres of HVO. Later in the year, it was announced that the brand new 84.2-metre Feadship yacht Obsidian was also switching to biofuel in her generators, making her the first new yacht to trial the alternative fuel source.

US Justice Department seeks to take ownership of 106m Amadea

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The world’s first fuel-cell superyacht hits the water

German shipbuilding giant Lürssen marked a significant milestone in the path towards sustainable yachting with the launch of 114.2-metre Project Cosmos, the first superyacht fitted with fuel cell technology. Once complete, the yacht will be able to create electricity to power its propulsion through a chemical reaction instead of combustion. The yacht has a huge float-in tender well – similar to the one on Octopus – and her exterior design is by Australian industrialist designer Marc Newson , who also designed the Apple Watch.

Jeff Bezos takes delivery of two yachts

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos made international headlines when he took delivery of his superyacht earlier in 2023 (with no bridge dismantling). The 125.9-metre Koru (a word meaning new life, growth and peace in Māori culture) is now the largest sailing yacht in the world (excluding Sailing Yacht A ), as well as the flagship yacht of the Oceanco fleet. The classically-styled schooner was a radical departure from the modern, stealthy-looking superyacht that was expected from the billionaire, with Lateral Naval Architects and Dykstra Naval Architects taking care of her naval architecture and old-school look. Koru is shadowed by the 75-metre Abeona from Damen Yachting .  

93m Mayan Queen rescues migrants from sinking boat

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€330M Ahpo becomes one of the biggest brokerage deals in history

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The OceanGate submersible implosion sparks commentary from the industry

The impact of the OceanGate submersible, which imploded in June on a descent to the Titanic killing all five passengers, was felt across the industry. Patrick Lahey, co-founder of Triton Submarines, said he tried to convince his long-time friend and Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, who was killed in the incident, not to dive with OceanGate. "I tried to do everything I could to discourage him from going out there. I know many people that knew him did the same thing," he said. Rob McCallum, co-founder of EYOS Expeditions, agreed, recalling a dinner with OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush when "I told him in no uncertain terms that he was doing the wrong thing."

Two arrested following vandalism of Kaos

Two people were arrested following the deliberate vandalism of 110-metre Kaos while she was docked in the Balearic islands. A video posted on social media shows two climate activists spray painting the yacht’s stern until port authorities intervened. Kaos sustained no lasting damage, but the incident sent shockwaves through the industry, along with concerns about incidents like these becoming more commonplace.

Abeking & Rasmussen crowns new flagship

One of the most exciting yachts to be delivered in 2023 was Liva O , Abeking ’s new flagship. At 118.2 metres, the inky black yacht underwent specialised laser welding to create her smooth, unbroken, high-gloss finish. Her designer described her as a “monolith” on the water.

Kismet finds new owner and is renamed Whisper

After changing central agencies, the 95-metre Kismet sold in just three months in a deal between Cecil Wright & Partners and Christie Yachts . She was asking €149,000,000 at the time of her sale and has now been renamed Whisper . She was famously built for Shahid Khan, a Pakistani-American businessman and owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars, and his new yacht, still known as Project Jag , is moving closer to completion.

Kalizma comes under fire

The 50.2-metre superyacht Kalizma came under heavy fire in the Gulf of Aden, with pictures shared with BOAT International showing heavy bullet damage to the interior and exterior of the yacht. The incident was described as a pirate attack by eyewitnesses on board the boat, but a statement by officials claimed the “pirates” were actually Yemeni Coastguard vessels.

Fraser gets new CEO

Anders Kurtén was appointed CEO of leading brokerage firm Fraser in August.  The former CEO of Finnish shipyard Baltic Yachts brings 25 years of experience to his new role.

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