Mike Lynch among dead in yacht disaster as his daughter ‘remains missing’

The body of technology tycoon Mike Lynch has been recovered after a luxury yacht sank off the coast of Sicily, as his 18-year-old daughter reportedly remains missing.

The Italian Coastguard confirmed to the PA news agency that the sixth and final person yet to be found is a woman.

Mr Lynch, his daughter Hannah, Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer, his wife Judy Bloomer, Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo, and his wife Neda Morvillo were lost when the Bayesian sank at around 5am on Monday.

The search was called off at around 8pm in Sicily on Thursday with divers expected to begin again at 6.30am on Friday.

In a statement confirming their parents’ deaths, the Bloomer family described the couple as “incredible people and an inspiration to many”.

They said: “We are grieving for our loved ones and all of those affected by the tragedy.

“Our parents were incredible people and an inspiration to many, but first and foremost they were focused on and loved their family and spending time with their new grandchildren.

“Together for five decades, our only comfort is that they are still together now.

“This is an unimaginable grief to shoulder.”

The chief executive of legal AI company Luminance, which was founded by Mr Lynch, paid tribute to the technology tycoon, saying he was a “visionary unlike any other”.

Eleanor Lightbody said in a statement: “I am devastated to hear the news about our founding investor, Mike Lynch, and all of those involved in this tragic accident.

“Mike was a visionary unlike any other. He had a unique ability to spot the next technological revolution and solve tomorrow’s challenges before others even knew they were coming.

“Above all, Mike was a kind man who had an impact on many and will be sorely missed. I feel honoured to have known him, worked with him and learnt from him over the years.

“The UK has lost someone with the means, authority, knowledge and drive to propel the UK into technological leadership, but his legacy will live on in all of the extraordinary businesses he built and mentored, as well as his family who are in my thoughts.”

The body of the fifth person recovered from the yacht’s wreckage was returned in a blue body bag to the port of Porticello on Thursday morning.

Of the 22 passengers and crew on board, 15 – including Mr Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares – were rescued after escaping on to a lifeboat.

The body of Canadian-Antiguan national Recaldo Thomas, who was working as a chef on the superyacht Bayesian, was recovered at the scene of the sinking on Monday.

The boat trip was a celebration of Mr Lynch’s acquittal in a fraud case in the US.

The businessman, who founded software giant Autonomy in 1996, was cleared in June of carrying out a massive fraud relating to its 11 billion US dollar (£8.64 billion) sale to US company Hewlett Packard.

A decision on whether to raise the sunken yacht from the seabed is “not on the agenda”, but will be in the future, a spokesman from the Italian Coastguard has said.

Vincenzo Zagarola told PA: “This is not a topic on the agenda. It will be, but not now.”

He also said that the Italian Coastguard’s working theory is still that the missing woman is inside the boat.

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

A helicopter was previously drafted in to help the search effort, and divers from the local fire service have been seen entering the water with torches attached to their headgear.

Fire crews from the Vigili del Fuoco said they had 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.

Bayesian was moored around half a mile off the coast of Porticello when it sank at about 5am local time on Monday as the area was hit by a storm.

The wreckage of the Bayesian is resting on the seabed off the coast at a depth of 50 metres (164ft).

Fire crews described the operation as “complex”, with divers limited to 12-minute underwater shifts.

Survivors have been recuperating at a hotel complex in Porticello, where authorities are gathering witness statements.

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 PA: “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.

“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.

“She sometimes cried for her friends in the hospital.”