The six people missing after Mike Lynch’s superyacht sank on the coast on Sicily include the chairman of Morgan Stanley International, Jonathan Bloomer, and his wife, according to Italian authorities.
Luxury sailboat Bayesian was docked off the coast of Porticello when a waterspout struck the area just before 5am on Monday, wrecking the yacht and causing it to rapidly sink.
While one person tragically died and 15 survived the disaster, six people including British tech billionaire Lynch and his eighteen-year-old daughter remain missing.
The other four yet to be found are Mr Bloomer and his wife, as well as Lynch’s attorney Christopher Morvillo and his wife Nada.
Lynch had invited family and friends on the yacht to celebrate his triumph over fraud charges in the US.
The billionaire had gathered guests from legal firm Clifford Chance, as well as his own company Invoke Capital after being cleared in June.
Mr Bloomer is a close friend of Lynch and was confirmed missing by Italian Authorities.
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Mike Lynch (pictured) invited family and friends on his superyacht to celebrate his triumph over fraud charges in the US. Lynch is missing alongside his 18-year-old daughter Hannah
Chairman of Morgan Stanley International, Jonathan Bloomer (pictured), and his wife are also missing
Lynch’s attorney Christopher Morvillo (pictured) and his wife Nada are also missing
Luxury sailboat Bayesian was docked off the coast of Porticello when a waterspout struck the area just before 5am on Monday
According to his Linkedin profile, Mr Bloomer is the chairman of insurance provider Hiscox and was formerly the chief executive of Prudential before being involved in a boardroom coup in 2005.
Four of the missing passengers are British and two are American. It is feared those who have not yet been found were asleep in their cabins when the boat went underwater.
Among the 15 who survived include a one-year-old British baby called Sofia, who was kept afloat by her mother, 36-year-old Charlotte Golunski.
Mrs Golunski, an Oxford graduate and senior associate at Invoke, also survived after fighting to prevent her child from drowning.
The mother told Italian newspaper Republicca: ‘I held her afloat with all my strength, my arms stretched upwards to keep her from drowning.
‘It was all dark. In the water I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I screamed for help but all I could hear around me was the screams of others.’
Mrs Golunski’s British husband James Emsilie, 36, also survived the tragedy.
Another survivor is Clifford Chance lawyer Ayla Ronald, 36, who was part of the successful legal team invited to go sailing with Lynch, according to her father Lin.
Mr Ronald told The Telegraph: ‘I have texted with my daughter and she hasn’t given me any updates about missing personnel or saved personnel. She has only said to me that there are deaths, and she and her partner are alive.’
Lawyer Ayla Ronald, 36, (pictured) who was part of the successful legal team who were invited to go sailing with Lynch, is one of the survivors
Charlotte Golunski, 36, (pictured) her husband and her one-year-old baby also survived
Lynch remains missing while his wife Angela (pictured) survived and is recovering
Luxury sailboat Bayesian rapidly sank after getting caught up in a ‘whirlwind’ in Sicily
Other survivors included Irish woman Sasha Murray, 29, Matthew Fletcher, 41, from London, James Calfield 51, from New Zealand, Myin Htun Kyaw, 39, from Myanmar and the French Captain Matthew Griffith.
They were rescued by crews from nearby boats including that of Karsten Borner, the captain of a sailing ship anchored near the Bayesian, who said his team struggled to keep their boat afloat when the tornado hit.
Fabio Cefalu, a fisherman in Porticello who witnessed the tragedy unfold, said he saw a waterspout – a sort of mini-tornado – that lasted about 12 minutes shortly before 4am.
At around 4.10am he said he saw a red flare go off from Bayesian but by the time he was able to reach the area about 20 minutes later the yacht had all but disappeared. ‘We found only the cushions, and a few planks floating in the water,’ he said.