The 184-foot, British-flagged ship, the Baysian, carrying foreign tourists, capsized and sank off the coast of Sicily in bad weather early Monday. This video was taken in Gibraltar in June 2021. Credit: @dannywheelz /TMX
Rescue teams are still searching for six people missing after a luxury superyacht sank off the coast of Italy on Monday morning, including two Americans, British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch and Morgan Stanley International chairman Jonathan Bloomer.
The 184-foot British-flagged ship, the Basian, carrying foreign tourists, capsized and sank off the coast of Sicily in bad weather. Authorities say one man’s body has been recovered and 15 people, including a one-year-old girl, have been rescued.
The Italian coast guard said the sailing vessel capsized just after 5am off the coast of Porticello, near Palermo, where it was anchored, with 10 crew members and 12 passengers from Britain, the US and Canada on board.
“There are fears that bodies may have been trapped on board,” Sicily’s civil defence chief Salvatore Cocina told Reuters.
At least one dead, British tech entrepreneur, American missing after yacht sinks off Italian coast
Prudential CEO Jonathan Bloomer speaks during an interview at Bloomberg’s offices in central London on Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2004. (Andy Shaw/Bloomberg via Getty Images/Getty Images)
The Baysian is owned by Lynch’s wife, who survived the disaster. Lynch’s colleagues were also on board. The only body recovered so far is that of the ship’s chef, Ricardo Thomas, an Antiguan national.
According to the Daily Mail, people on the yacht were celebrating Lynch’s victory over fraud charges in the United States.
He was acquitted of fraud charges by a San Francisco jury, ending more than a decade of legal battles that began with the 2011 sale of his company to Hewlett-Packard.
“I am overjoyed by today’s verdict,” Lynch said in a statement after being acquitted. “I look forward to returning to the UK and getting back to what I love most – my family and innovating in my field.”
Who is Mike Lynch, the British tech entrepreneur who went missing after his yacht sank?
Former Autonomy Inc. CEO Mike Lynch arrives at the federal courthouse in San Francisco, California, on Monday, March 18, 2024. (Lauren Elliott/Bloomberg via Getty Images/Getty Images)
Those missing include Lynch, 59, and his 18-year-old daughter, Bloomer and his wife, and lawyer Chris Morvillo of the Clifford Chance law firm and his wife.
“The biggest challenge is the depth of the water, which makes a long-term search impossible,” fire department diver Marco Tilotta told reporters. “We’re going to search centimetre by centimetre.”
In this photo obtained from social media, the 56-metre long sailing ship “Basian”, which later sank off the coast of Sicily’s capital Palermo, is seen in Santa Flavia, Italy, on August 18, 2024. (Baia Santa Nicolicia/Fabio La Bianca/via Reuters)
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The ship is located in 164 feet of water and appears to be intact, lying on its right side, Tilotta said, and divers have not confirmed whether the 246-foot-long mast broke at any point.
The Baysian was built in 2008 by Italian company Perini Navi, as seen in footage taken in June 2021.
Morgan Stanley did not immediately respond to FOX Business’ request for comment.
FOX Business’ Brec Dumas and Reuters contributed to this report.