UK tech tycoon Mike Lynch missing after yacht sinks off Sicily

One-year-old child, Lynch's wife among the 15 rescued

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Mike Lynch, CEO of Autonomy Group, is among those missing on Monday after a superyacht sank off southern Italy. AFP File Photo

Published: Mon 19 Aug 2024, 6:39 PM

Last updated: Mon 19 Aug 2024, 6:40 PM

UK businessman Mike Lynch, who was recently acquitted in the United States of an $11 billion fraud, is among those missing on Monday after a superyacht sank off southern Italy, according to the head of the Civil Protection Agency.

The 56-metre-long luxury yacht, The Bayesian, had been moored off Porticello, east of Palermo, when the storm swept suddenly up the coast before dawn, tearing through beach clubs and little fishing ports.

The missing people were of British, American and Canadian nationality, the coast guard said. The 15 people rescued included a one-year-old child.

Lynch's wife was also among those 15 rescued after the luxury yacht sank amid violent winds and rain off the Sicily coast, according to Salvo Cocina of the Civil Protection Agency, leaving six others missing.

Italian authorities have opened a probe into the incident as the emergency response continued on Monday.

Italian Carabinieri stand on the quay with health workers as a Coast Guard boat prepares to search for the six missing people on Monday. AFP

Lynch, 59, was acquitted on all charges in a San Francisco court in early June after he was accused of the massive fraud linked to the sale of his software firm Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard.

He co-founded Autonomy in Cambridge in 1996.

US prosecutors accused Lynch of wire fraud and securities fraud, and conspiracy to commit offences involving years of falsified records.

He had been extradited to the US from Britain to stand trial on the criminal charges.

A University of Cambridge graduate from Suffolk in eastern England, Lynch had disputed all charges and denied any wrongdoing. He was facing two decades in jail if convicted of the 17 charges.

A spokesperson for Invoke Capital, another firm he founded, declined to comment.

Lynch was reportedly on board the boat with colleagues from the company when the storm struck.

The sailboat sank with 22 people on board shortly before sunrise, the coast guard said in a statement.

"The wind was very strong. Bad weather was expected, but not of this magnitude," a coast guard official in Palermo told Reuters.

Storms and heavy rainfall have swept down Italy in recent days - with floods and landslides causing major damage in the north of the country - after weeks of scorching heat.

Eight of those rescued were transferred to local hospitals. All were in stable condition, local media reported.

The captain of a nearby boat told Reuters that 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," Karsten Borner told journalists.

He said that his crew then found some of the survivors on a life raft, including three who were seriously injured, and took them on board before the coast guard picked them up.

Borner said "a little baby and the wife of the owner" were among the survivors, while the owner of the sunken ship and another child were among those missing.

The coast guard said the boat had been found at a depth of 49 metres and that divers were inspecting the wreck.

Prosecutors in the nearby town of Termini Imerese have opened an investigation to look into what had gone wrong.

The Bayesian was built by Italian shipbuilder Perini in 2008 and was last refitted in 2020, and was managed by yachting company Camper & Nicholsons.

It won a string of awards for its design and can accommodate up to 12 guests in six suites and a crew of 10, according to online specialist yacht sites.

Formerly know as Salute, or health in Italian, its 75-metre mast is the tallest aluminium mast in the world, Perini said on its website.

The boat left the Sicilian port of Milazzo on August 14 and was last tracked east of Palermo on Sunday evening, with a navigation status of "at anchor", according to vessel tracking app Vesselfinder.

A UK foreign ministry spokesperson said British officials were in contact with local authorities over the incident and were ready to provide consular support for Britons who were affected.