One person still missing after a tragic incident three days ago, reminiscent of the Titanic disaster, involving a luxury yacht owned by British tech magnate Mike Lynch capsized off the coast of Sicily during a violent storm. Italian rescue divers were searching the sunken yacht on Thursday for the final missing body. Earlier that morning, members of the fire brigade and coast guard recovered a fifth corpse, following the retrieval of four bodies from the wreck on Wednesday. These were transported to nearby hospitals in Palermo. Italy’s Corriere della Sera reported that the only bodies identified so far were Morgan Stanley banker Jonathan Bloomer and U.S. lawyer Chris Morvillo.
The British-flagged Bayesian, a 56-meter-long (184-ft) superyacht carrying 22 passengers and crew, was anchored off the port of Porticello, near Palermo, when it sank in a matter of minutes after being struck by a fierce storm.
The yacht, which was believed to be unsinkable, claimed the lives of British businessman Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter. Fifteen people, including Lynch’s wife, managed to escape the boat before it capsized, while the body of the onboard chef, Canadian-Antiguan national Recaldo Thomas, was found near the wreck hours after the disaster.
The cause of the wreck remains a mystery. The Bayesian, built by the Italian high-end yacht manufacturer Perini and equipped with top-class fittings and safety features, was expected to withstand such weather conditions. Giovanni Costantino, CEO of the Italian Sea Group (TISGR.MI), which includes Perini, described the *Bayesian* as “one of the safest boats in the world” and essentially unsinkable. In interviews with Italian media, he suggested that the disaster was likely caused by a series of human errors, noting that the storm had been anticipated. “The ship sank because it took on water, from where investigators will have to determine,” Costantino told the TG1 television news program late on Wednesday.
Citing data from the yacht’s automatic tracking system and available footage, Costantino noted that it took just 16 minutes from when the wind began to batter the yacht for it to start taking on water and sink.
Prosecutors in the nearby town of Termini Imerese have opened an investigation, and authorities have started questioning passengers and witnesses. The captain, James Cutfield, and crew have not made any official statements regarding the disaster.
Meanwhile, the Milan-listed group has suffered “enormous damage” to its reputation, with shares falling 2.5% since the incident.
