UK tech tycoon among missing after superyacht sinks off Sicily

PORTICELLO: UK tech tycoon Mike Lynch was among six people lost at sea Monday after a superyacht sank off the Italian island of Sicily during a sudden storm.
The 56-metre long luxury yacht had been moored off Porticello, east of Palermo, when violent winds and rains swept suddenly up the coast before dawn.
Lynch’s wife Angela Bacares was among 15 people rescued but the businessman and his daughter Hannah Lynch were missing, Salvo Cocina, head of the Civil Protection Agency in Sicily, said.
Bacares suffered light injuries and was spotted being wheeled into a hospital in Termini Imerese. Lynch, 59, is a celebrated technology sector entrepreneur and investor, sometimes referred to as the UK’s answer to Bill Gates.
Divers who recovered a first body in the area earlier on Monday had seen one of the missing six trapped inside the sunken vessel, according to a source close to the recovery operation. “It was terrible. The boat was hit by really strong wind and shortly after it went down,” a British survivor named as Charlotte Golunski told ANSA news agency.
The Bayesian, flying the British flag, had 22 people aboard, including 10 crew members, the coast guard said. Most of those aboard were British, and the passengers were guests of Lynch, according to Italian media.
Golunski said her one-year-old daughter, named by media as Sophia, had nearly drowned.
“For two seconds I lost her in the sea, then I grabbed her again. I held her tightly to me, while the sea raged. Lots of people were screaming,” she was quoted as saying.
Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2024