Superyacht Sinks Latest: British Entrepreneur Among Missing
•As CCTV shows storm that sank superyacht
At least one person has died and six are missing, including tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, after a superyacht carrying mostly Britons was caught in a tornado and sank off the coast of Sicily. A one-year-old girl is among the 15 people who have been rescued.
British tech tycoon Mike Lynch is missing after the superyacht sinking, multiple news agencies are reporting.
The yacht was owned by Mr Lynch, Sky News understands.
Mr Lynch has been in the headlines in recent weeks over a high-profile fraud case.
In June, he was cleared of all charges by a US jury related to the sale of his software company Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard in 2011.
He was extradited to the US to face trial just over a year ago and was acquitted this year alongside former finance executive Stephen Chamberlain who had faced the same charges.
Mr Lynch was accused by HP of deliberately overstating the value of Autonomy, a business he founded and ran, before it was acquired by the American technology firm.
He always denied any wrongdoing.
The mayor of Palermo has been speaking on the ongoing rescue operation in Italy.
Roberto Lagalla told the Italian newspaper Giornale di Sicilia: “My prayers at this moment are with those missing in the shipwreck of the sailing boat in Porticello.
“My closeness goes to the passengers and crew members rescued.
“I also express my heartfelt thanks to the coastguard, the firefighters and the entire rescue machine that was immediately activated and is still carrying out operations”.
The captain of a boat that rescued survivors of the yacht disaster has described the moment the storm hit.
The superyacht tipped to its side and sank within “a few minutes”, Karsten Borner told the Italian news outlet Rai.
“It all happened in really little time.”
The Dutch-flagged vessel’s crew were the first to come to the rescue of those onboard the yacht.
Mr Borner said when the storm hit he turned the engine on to keep control of the vessel and avoid a collision with the Bayesian.
“We managed to keep the ship in position and after the storm was over, we noticed that the ship behind us was gone,” he told Reuters.
A fisherman has described seeing the yacht “sinking with my own eyes”.
Speaking to the Italian newspaper Giornale di Sicilia, the witness said he was at home when the tornado hit.
“Then I saw the boat, it had only one mast, it was very big. I saw it suddenly sink,” he said.
The fisherman went on to say that shortly afterwards he went down to the Santa Nicolicchia bay to get a better look at what was happening.
He added: “The boat was still floating, then all of a sudden it disappeared. I saw it sinking with my own eyes.”
Elsewhere, another fisherman said he “only saw the remains of the boat floating”.
“There were no men in the sea so we immediately called the harbour master’s office,” he said.
Divers, a motorboat and a helicopter from Catania, one of Sicily’s bigger cities, have been deployed to look for the six missing people above the surface of the sea.
Cave divers are arriving from Napoli, as well as Cagliari and Sassari in Sardinia, to help with the search of the shipwreck, which is now estimated to be about 50 metres under water, according to the fire service.
Specialist divers are at the scene as the search and rescue operation continues.
As we’ve been reporting, six people are missing after the superyacht sank in a tornado off Sicily.
The coastguard is also involved in the operation.
The management company of the yacht has issued a statement in the past few moments.
Camper and Nicholsons confirmed that the vessel was caught in “severe weather and subsequently sank” near Palermo at around 4.30am local time.
The company said 12 guests and 10 crew were onboard and that the Italian coastguard was leading search and rescue operations.
“Our priority is assisting with the ongoing search and providing all necessary support to the rescued passengers and crew,” the company said
The yacht is managed by Camper & Nicholsons International – it is not owned by them.