The Italian coast guard said the body of billionaire tech mogul Mike Lynch was among the five bodies recovered from the luxury superyacht that sank off the coast of Sicily earlier this week. The final person that divers are still searching for as of Thursday is a woman.
Divers brought a body bag holding a fifth person ashore at Porticello port on Thursday while continuing to search for the sixth missing passenger who was aboard the 184-foot British-flagged Bayesian superyacht when it sank during bad weather early Monday.
Italian Coast Guard officials have yet to release the identities of the recovered bodies.
Lynch, a British tech titan, was apparently aboard the Bayesian to celebrate his recent acquittal in a U.S. fraud case with associates who helped him through the trial.
Included among the six missing people were Lynch, his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, Christopher Morvillo, an American lawyer with Clifford Chance who defended Lynch in the fraud case, and Morgan Stanley International chairman Jonathan Bloomer, who testified in Lynch’s defense.
Morvillo’s wife, Neda, and Bloomer’s wife, Judy, were also among the missing.
Divers have been searching for the missing in the hull of the Bayesian, which now rests on the seabed 164 feet underwater. Though the sixth person, whom officials said is a woman, remains missing, the operation is considered a recovery since there have been no signs of life over three days of searching.
WHO IS MIKE LYNCH, THE BRITISH TECH ENTREPRENEUR MISSING AFTER YACHT SANK?
Ten crew members and 12 passengers, including British, American and Canadian nationals were onboard when a waterspout was believed to have struck and capsized the vessel sometime around 5 a.m. Monday near the port of Porticello, where it was anchored, officials have said.
A nearby sailboat rescued 15 people, including a 1-year-old girl. The body of onboard chef Recaldo Thomas, an Antiguan citizen, was recovered Monday.
Investigators are seeking to learn why the superyacht sank so quickly.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
