Divers searching for passengers aboard a luxury superyacht that sank earlier this week found four bodies off the coast of Sicily on Wednesday, the Italian coast guard said. A fifth body has been found and is due to be recovered on Thursday, but one person remains missing.
Diving crews brought body bags to the port of Porticello, Italy, but the identities of the dead are yet to be confirmed.
The yacht sank after being caught in an unexpected and violent storm on Monday. The ship’s chef was rescued on Monday.
Among the six passengers who went missing on Monday were British tech tycoon Mike Lynch, nicknamed the “British Bill Gates”, his daughter, Morgan Stanley International chairman Jonathan Bloomer and American lawyer Chris Morbillo.
what happened?
The Bagheria city council said in a statement that seven adults were taken to emergency rooms after being rescued, but “no one appears to be seriously injured.”
While crew members search for the remaining bodies, others are trying to determine what caused the ship to sink in the first place. According to a BBC report, a severe storm struck the coast of Sicily, creating a waterspout, a tornado that forms on the water. The winds of the waterspout were so strong that it snapped the ship’s mast in two, causing the ship to lose balance and sink at anchor.
Britain’s Maritime Accidents Investigation Branch will send a team of four investigators to preliminarily investigate why the Baysian sank and why there were still passengers on board.
As the ship sank, 15 people evacuated to safety and were rescued by a nearby boat.
A nearby Dutch sailor noticed the yacht was missing and saw flares being launched into the sea, and went to try and rescue survivors before the Italian coastguard arrived.
British passenger Charlotte Gornski told reporters she saved her one-year-old daughter’s life by holding her above the water until she could reach a lifeboat.
What you need to know about Bayesians
According to the Associated Press, charter sites list the yacht for sale for $215,000 a week.
Boat International, a guide to superyachts and luxury yachts, reported that the Baysian has the world’s tallest aluminium mast at over 240 feet, making it one of the world’s 50 largest sailing yachts.
Who is Mike Lynch?
Lynch, 59, founded the software company Autonomy and recently faced a legal battle with Hewlett-Packard Co., which accused him of inflating the company’s value in its 2011 sale for $11 billion.
Lynch was acquitted of multiple fraud charges in June after a three-month trial, avoiding a 20-year prison sentence.
