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Bayesian Superyacht Sinks in Italy With Tech Tycoon Aboard: Who’s Missing? Updates on the Tragedy
A superyacht named the Bayesian sank off the coast of Sicily on August 19, 2024. There were thought to be 22 people on board when the ship went down, including tech tycoon Mike Lynch. The tragedy has left people scratching their heads and wondering what exactly happened to cause the yacht to sink and who is still missing.
What Happened to the Bayesian Yacht?
In the early hours of August 19, 2024, a strong storm caused a waterspout (a tornado that forms over water and creates columns of wind and mist) to form where the yacht had lowered its anchor for the night, according to Italian civil protection officials. Italian newspaper Giornale di Sicilia reported that Karsten Borner, the captain of a nearby yacht, saw the Bayesian during the storm. However, once the weather had calmed, he only saw a red flare glowing in the night sky.
When Borner saw the flare, he and some of his crew went to investigate. They discovered a lifeboat with 15 people on board. After getting them to safety aboard Borner’s yacht, he notified the Italian coast guard.
Sky News reported that the boat sank in less than 60 seconds.
“I imagine all the doors were open because it was hot, so there were enough hatches and doors open that it filled with water very quickly and sank like that,” Sailing Today magazine editor Sam Jefferson said, per Sky News.
The ship’s mast, one of the tallest in the world, broke in half and likely contributed to the speed at which the yacht sank.
Who Is Missing From the Bayesian Yacht?
Along with 10 crew members, the Bayesian also had 12 passengers on board, including Lynch, his wife, Angela Bacares, and 18-year-old daughter, Hannah. Bacares was with the 15 people in the lifeboat and was rescued on August 19, 2024. Authorities also found the body of who they presumed to be the yacht’s chef, Recaldo Thomas.
Lynch’s body was recovered from the yacht on August 22, 2024, but divers were continuing to search for his daughter. The bodies of the other five people on board have been located. On August 23, 2024, sources close to the Italian coast guard reported to People that the “last person still missing in the Palermo shipwreck is identified,” meaning Hannah’s body had been found.
Mike Lynch Was Known as ‘Britain’s Bill Gates’
Lynch was involved in a financial fraud trial after he sold his company Autonomy for $11 billion to Hewlett Packard in 2011. Autonomy created a search engine that could pull data from internal business documents and email. Its goal was to aid business owners and large companies in finding data much faster.
The tech tycoon was accused of falsifying records and fired by Meg Whitman, Hewlett Packard’s CEO at the time, in May 2012. Lynch was extradited from the United Kingdom to face the charges, but he continually maintained his innocence. During the two and a half month trial, prosecutors brought more than 30 witnesses to testify against Lynch and claimed that he had finessed billions of dollars from Hewlett Packard. He was ultimately cleared of all charges, along with his codefendant, Stephen Chamberlain.
Two days before the Bayesian yacht sank with Lynch on board, Chamberlain was killed after being hit by a car while jogging.
The Cause of Death of 4 Sicily Yacht Victims Revealed
The initial autopsies of Christopher, Neda, Jonathan and Judy revealed that they died of “dry drowning,” authorities shared, per CNN. The four victims found an air bubble in the cabin where they were found and had consumed all the oxygen before the air pocket became toxic due to carbon dioxide, according to the report.
Autopsies for Lynch and his daughter, as well as Thomas, are still pending, according to the outlet.
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