British tech tycoon Mike Lynch, Morgan Stanley International director Jonathan Bloomer, and Chris Morvillo, a prominent American lawyer, are among six people still missing after a tornado hit a luxury yacht off the coast of Sicily.
The vessel sank Monday — killing one of the 22 people on board — after its mast, one of the world’s tallest, broke in half during the storm. Fifteen people have been rescued.
Salvatore Cocina, head of the Italian island’s Civil Protection agency, told journalists at the scene that Bloomer and Morvillo’s wives are also missing.
Bloomer is the non-executive chairman of Morgan Stanley International and also chairman of London-listed insurer Hiscox.
“We are deeply shocked and saddened by this tragedy. Our thoughts are with all those affected, in particular the Bloomer family, as we all wait for further news from this terrible situation,” a Morgan Stanley spokesperson told CNN.
Hiscox chief executive Aki Hussain said in a statement Tuesday that the company was “deeply shocked and saddened” by the “tragic” news.
“Our thoughts are with all those affected, in particular our chair, Jonathan Bloomer, and his wife Judy, who are among the missing, and with their family as they await further news from this terrible situation,” he added.
Divers with the Italian fire brigade will try again to enter the sunken ship Tuesday to search for the missing, after an unsuccessful attempt Monday, Italy’s Coast Guard said on X.
The vessel was hit by the tornado at around 5 a.m. local time Monday, according to a spokesperson for Italy’s Coast Guard. The yacht was anchored about half a mile from the port of Porticello on the Mediterranean island.
Strong storms across Sicily brought torrential rainfall late Sunday, dumping more than 4 inches (100mm) of rain in less than four hours in Brolo, east of Palermo. A report from the European Severe Weather Database revealed that a waterspout — a type of tornado that forms over water or moves from land to water — developed over the area where the yacht was anchored Monday morning.
One body was found on the hull of the vessel, and was later identified as the onboard chef Ricardo Thomas, an Antiguan citizen, according to Reuters. Lynch’s wife Angela Bacares, the captain of the yacht, and a one-year old girl are among the people rescued. Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter is still missing.
An Italian newspaper reported Tuesday that Bacares and her husband were initially unconcerned when woken at 4 a.m. local time as the boat tilted.
They only became worried when the yacht’s windows shattered and chaos broke out, she was reported as telling La Repubblica in an interview at a hospital in Sicily.
Lynch, a 59-year-old tech investor and entrepreneur, was acquitted in June in a fraud trial linked to the multi-billion dollar sale of Autonomy, the software firm he co-founded, to Hewlett Packard. Prosecutors alleged that Lynch had schemed to inflate Autonomy’s revenue prior to the sale.
Morvillo, an American lawyer at Clifford Chance, was involved in successfully defending the case against Lynch.
A Clifford Chance spokesperson said the law firm was “in shock and deeply saddened.”
“Our thoughts are with our partner, Christopher Morvillo, and his wife Neda who are among the missing. Our utmost priority is providing support to the family as well as our colleague Ayla Ronald, who together with her partner, thankfully survived the incident,” the spokesperson added.
One survivor, Charlotte, 35, described how she battled to hold onto her one-year-old daughter, Sofia, as a barrage of waves sank the yacht, according to a report from Italian news agency ANSA.
“In two seconds I lost the baby in the sea, then I immediately hugged her again amidst the fury of the waves. I held her tightly, close to me, while the sea was stormy,” she told ANSA. “Many were screaming.”
The United Kingdom’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch is deploying a team of four inspectors to Palermo to conduct a preliminary assessment of the yacht, a source familiar with the operations told CNN Monday. The source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, did not say when the team is expected to arrive in Sicily.
The 56-meter (184-foot) yacht called “Bayesian,” which sailed under a British flag, had mostly British passengers and crew, in addition to two Anglo-French, one Irish, and one Sri Lankan, the spokesperson for Italy’s Coast Guard told CNN.
The New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade told CNN that two of the country’s citizens were involved in the incident but were not among those still missing. The nationality of the dead person has not been disclosed.
The Bayesian had the tallest aluminum mast in the world, at 72.27 meters (237 feet), its Italian manufacturer Perini Navi said on its website.
The mast was three meters (10 feet) shorter than the world’s tallest mast, as ranked by the Guinness World Records. That 75-meter (247-foot) carbon-fiber mast belongs to the Mirabella V, a yacht built by Vosper Thornycroft in Southampton, UK, according to Guinness World Records’ website.
This is a developing story and will be updated. Kathleen Magramo and Sabrina Souza contributed reporting.
