The corpse of entrepreneur Mike Lynch was found in the submerged yacht.
Divers have retrieved a fifth human corpse from the sunken lavish British yacht "Bayesian" situated off the coast of Sicily's Italian Mediterranean island. The deceased individual has been identified as British tech magnate Mike Lynch. At a depth of 50 meters, his body was retrieved from the yacht. Regrettably, Lynch's 18-year-old daughter has yet to be located.
Previously, the bodies of American lawyer Christopher Morvillo and his spouse, Neda Morvillo, along with British banker Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judith Bloomer, had also been recovered from the submerged vessel. A total of fifteen people managed to survive the shipwreck, including Lynch's wife.
On Wednesday afternoon, various Italian and British media outlets reported that Lynch's body had been found. However, this information was proved to be erroneous. Any hopes of survivors lodged in air pockets had been extinguished by that point.
Possible reasons for the calamity
The passengers and crew appear to have been caught unawares by an approaching storm. The chronology of events remains unclear. Italian law enforcement authorities interrogated the injured captain for hours, who reportedly said, "We didn't see it coming." However, some question the veracity of this account.
It is suspected that the "Bayesian" sank within merely 60 seconds. Experts are still attempting to resolve this conundrum. Conjectures include an unfastened hatch during a monstrous wave or an incorrectly configured steering mechanism regulating the hull's draft.
The yacht was equipped with a system enabling it to halve its draft: While the movable rudder was fully extended, the draft amounted to almost ten meters, thereby balancing the forces exerted by the enormous mast. However, the draft could be decreased to around four meters to enter a harbor, which may have resulted in the unfortunate incident for both guests and crew.
The 56-meter-long "Bayesian", one of the world's largest sailing yachts boasting a 75-meter-high aluminum mast, was owned by the Lynch family. The grounded ship, currently lying on its side on the seabed, presents the search with additional challenges. The operation included a diving robot as well.
The "British Bill Gates" intended to celebrate his vindication
Lynch is often referred to as the "British Bill Gates" by British tabloids due to his prestigious software firm, Autonomy. He sold Autonomy to US conglomerate Hewlett-Packard for $11 billion in 2011 - a highly criticized tech acquisition in Silicon Valley's record books.
Lynch and his ex-finance manager, Steve Chamberlain, who was recently killed in a car accident while jogging, were accused of misrepresenting Autonomy's financial situation to Hewlett-Packard. In a San Francisco court trial, both were acquitted.
After the tragic discovery of Mike Lynch's body, efforts to locate his missing daughter continue in the salvage operation of the sunken yacht. Despite numerous investigations, the cause of the shipwreck remains unclear, with theories ranging from an unfastened hatch to an incorrectly configured steering mechanism.
With the unfortunate incident, the grand plans for Lynch's celebration on board the luxurious "Bayesian" were brought to an abrupt end, leaving behind a persisting enigma in the vast expanse of the ocean.
