The six people missing after Mike Lynch’s superyacht sank off the coast of Sicily include the tech mogul, his daughter, a Morgan Stanley boss, a top New York lawyer and their two wives.
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 18-year-old daughter Hannah, remain missing.
Morgan Stanley International Bank Chairman Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy remain missing.
Clifford Chance’s attorney, Chris Morvillo, who represented Lynch in his recent legal battle, has also been found, along with his wife Neda.
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.
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 Neda are also missing.
Neda and her husband Christopher are missing after the superyacht sank on Monday off the coast of Sicily
The luxury yacht Bayesian was docked off the coast of Porticello when a waterspout hit the area shortly before 5 a.m. Monday.
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 wealthy American couple Mr and Mrs Morvillo have not been seen since the Bayesian capsized off Palermo on Monday morning after being hit by bad weather.
Mr Morvillo, 59, was working as a lawyer for Mr Lynch, who had chartered the boat to celebrate a recent legal victory.
He is a partner at the prestigious law firm Clifford Chance, which has offices around the world.
Mr. Morvillo previously served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 1999 to 2005.
His wife, 57, has her own line of luxury jewelry under her maiden name, Neda Nassiri.
The couple has an apartment on New York’s Upper East Side and also owns a luxurious four-bedroom, five-bathroom home valued at $2.3 million in South Kent, Connecticut.
They have two daughters: Sabrina, 27, a voice actress, and Sophia, 23, who studied theater at Northwestern University.
The couple’s identities were first revealed by the Daily Mail on Monday evening.
Italian authorities also confirmed the disappearance of Mr Bloomer, a close friend of Lynch.
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.
“Our thoughts are with all those affected, in particular our chairman, Jonathan Bloomer, and his wife Judy, who are among those missing,” Aki Hussain, chief executive of the Hiscox group, which Bloomer also chaired, said in a statement.
The 15 survivors included a one-year-old British baby named Sofia, who was kept afloat by her mother, Charlotte Golunski, 36.
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.
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.’
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.