Among the six people missing after Mike Lynch’s superyacht sank off the coast of Sicily are Morgan Stanley International chairman Jonathan Bloomer and his wife, Italian authorities say.
The luxury yacht Bayesian was docked off the coast of Porticello when a waterspout hit the area shortly before 5 a.m. Monday, wrecking the yacht and causing it to sink rapidly.
Although one person tragically died and 15 survived the disaster, six people, including British tech billionaire Lynch and his eighteen-year-old daughter, remain missing.
The other four who have not yet been accounted for are Mr Bloomer and his wife, as well as Lynch’s lawyer, Christopher Morvillo and his wife Nada.
Lynch had invited family and friends to the yacht to celebrate her victory over fraud charges in the United States.
The billionaire had brought together guests from law firm Clifford Chance as well as his own company Invoke Capital after being acquitted in June.
Mr Bloomer is a close friend of Lynch and Italian authorities have confirmed his disappearance.
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Mike Lynch (pictured) invited family and friends to his superyacht to celebrate his triumph over fraud charges in the US. Lynch is missing along with his 18-year-old daughter Hannah
Morgan Stanley International Chairman Jonathan Bloomer (pictured) and his wife are also missing.
Lynch’s attorney, Christopher Morvillo (pictured), and his wife Nada are also missing.
The luxury yacht Bayesian was docked off the coast of Porticello when a waterspout hit the area shortly before 5 a.m. Monday.
According to his Linkedin profile, Bloomer is the chairman of insurance provider Hiscox and was previously chief executive of Prudential before being ousted in a boardroom coup in 2005.
Four of the missing passengers are British and two are American. It is feared that those who have not yet been found were sleeping in their cabins when the ship sank.
The 15 survivors included a one-year-old British baby named Sofia, who was kept afloat by her mother, Charlotte Golunski, 36.
Ms Golunski, an Oxford graduate and senior associate at Invoke, also survived after fighting to stop her son from drowning.
The mother told Italian newspaper Republicca: ‘I kept her afloat with all my strength, with my arms stretched upwards to prevent her from drowning.
‘It was pitch black. I couldn’t keep my eyes open in the water. I screamed for help, but all I could hear around me were the screams of others.’
Ms Golunski’s British husband, James Emsilie, 36, also survived the tragedy.
Another survivor is Clifford Chance attorney Ayla Ronald, 36, who was part of the successful legal team invited to sail with Lynch, according to her father Lin.
Mr. Ronald said The telegraph‘I have texted my daughter and she has not given me any updates on missing or rescued personnel. She has only told me that there are dead and that she and her partner are alive.’
Attorney Ayla Ronald, 36 (pictured), who was part of the successful legal team invited to sail with Lynch, is one of the survivors.
Charlotte Golunski, 36 (pictured), her husband and one-year-old baby also survived.
Lynch remains missing while his wife Angela (pictured) survived and is recovering.
Luxury yacht Bayesian sank rapidly after being caught in a ‘whirlwind’ off Sicily
Other survivors included Irishwoman Sasha Murray, 29, Matthew Fletcher, 41, from London, James Calfield, 51, from New Zealand, Myin Htun Kyaw, 39, from Myanmar and French captain Matthew Griffith.
They were rescued by nearby boat crews, including Karsten Borner, the captain of a sailboat anchored near the Bayesian, who said his crew struggled to keep their boat afloat when the tornado hit.
Fabio Cefalu, a fisherman from Porticello who witnessed the tragedy, said he saw a waterspout, a sort of mini tornado, that lasted about 12 minutes shortly before 4 a.m.
At about 4.10am, he said he saw a red flare sent out by Bayesian, but by the time he was able to reach the area, about 20 minutes later, the yacht had all but disappeared. “We only found the cushions and some planks floating in the water,” he said.
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