British tech tycoon Mike Lynch, Morgan Stanley International
chairman Jonathan Bloomer, and Chris Morvillo, a prominent American lawyer, are
among six people still missing after a tornado hit a luxury yacht off the coast
of Sicily.
The vessel sank Monday — killing one of the 22 people on
board — after its mast, one of the world’s tallest, broke in half during the
storm. Fifteen people have been rescued.
Salvatore Cocina, head of the Italian island’s Civil
Protection agency, told journalists at the scene that Bloomer and Morvillo’s
wives are also missing.
Bloomer, whose LinkedIn profile lists him as the chairman of
Morgan Stanley International, is also the chairman of London-listed insurer
Hiscox. Its chief executive Aki Hussain said in a statement Tuesday that the
company was “deeply shocked and saddened” by the “tragic” news.
“Our thoughts are with all those affected, in particular our
chair, Jonathan Bloomer, and his wife Judy, who are among the missing, and with
their family as they await further news from this terrible situation,” he
added.
Divers with the Italian fire brigade will try again to enter
the sunken ship Tuesday to search for the missing, after an unsuccessful
attempt Monday, Italy’s Coast Guard said on X.
The vessel was hit by the tornado at around 5 a.m. local time
Monday, according to a spokesperson for Italy’s Coast Guard. The yacht was
anchored about half a mile from the port of Porticello on the Mediterranean
island.
Strong storms across Sicily brought torrential rainfall late
Sunday, dumping more than 4 inches (100mm) of rain in less than four hours in
Brolo, east of Palermo. A report from the European Severe Weather Database
revealed that a waterspout —
a type of tornado that forms over water or moves from land to water — developed
over the area where the yacht was anchored Monday morning.
One body was found on the hull of the vessel. Lynch’s wife
Angela Bacares, the captain of the yacht, and a one-year old girl are among the
people rescued. Lynch’s 18-year-old
Lynch, a 59-year-old tech investor and entrepreneur,
was acquitted
in June in a fraud trial linked to the multi-billion dollar sale of
Autonomy, the software firm he co-founded, to Hewlett Packard. Prosecutors
alleged that Lynch had schemed to inflate Autonomy’s revenue prior to the sale.
Morvillo, an American lawyer at Clifford Chance, was involved
in successfully defending the case against Lynch. Clifford Chance declined to
comment when contacted by CNN.
One survivor, Charlotte, 35, described how she
battled to hold onto her one-year-old daughter, Sofia, as a barrage of
waves sank the yacht, according to a report from Italian news agency ANSA.
“In two seconds I lost the baby in the sea, then I
immediately hugged her again amidst the fury of the waves. I held her tightly,
close to me, while the sea was stormy,” she told ANSA. “Many were screaming.”
The United Kingdom’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch is
deploying a team of four inspectors to Palermo to conduct a preliminary
assessment of the yacht, a source familiar with the operations told CNN Monday.
The source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, did not say when the team
is expected to arrive in Sicily.
The 56-meter (184-foot) yacht called “Bayesian,” which sailed
under a British flag, had mostly British passengers and crew, in addition to
two Anglo-French, one Irish, and one Sri Lankan, the spokesperson for Italy’s
Coast Guard told CNN.
The New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade told
CNN that two of the country’s citizens were involved in the
incident but were not among those still missing. The nationality of the dead
person has not been disclosed.
The Bayesian had the tallest aluminum mast in the world, at
72.27 meters (237 feet), its Italian manufacturer Perini Navi said on its
website.
The mast was three meters (10 feet) shorter than the world’s
tallest mast, as ranked by the Guinness World Records. That 75-meter (247-foot)
carbon-fiber mast belongs to the Mirabella V, a yacht built by Vosper
Thornycroft in Southampton, UK, according to Guinness World Records’ website.
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