Authorities are currently searching for six individuals, including British tech magnate Mike Lynch, the founder of the software company Autonomy, who went missing after a luxury sailing yacht was struck by a tornado and sank off the coast of Sicily. One of the 22 people aboard the vessel was killed.
The tornado hit the yacht at around 5 a.m. on Monday while it was anchored about half a mile from the port of Porticello, as reported by Italy’s Coast Guard. Among the missing are four Britons and two Americans.
Fifteen individuals, including Lynch’s wife Angela Bacares and a child who was airlifted to a hospital in Palermo, were rescued. Eight people were hospitalized, and the body of one victim was found on the yacht’s hull.
The European Severe Weather Database noted that a small waterspout, a type of tornado, formed over the area on Monday morning.
Other storms across Sicily caused heavy rainfall, with over four inches falling in less than four hours in Brolo, near Palermo.
The weather forecast had warned of possible strong winds and storms across southern Italy on Sunday.
One survivor, a 35-year-old woman named Charlotte, recounted how she fought to hold onto her one-year-old daughter, Sofia, as waves overwhelmed the yacht. She told reporters that she lost her daughter to the sea momentarily but managed to grab her again amid the chaos.
The yacht, named “Bayesian” and flying under a British flag, was 56 meters long and carried mostly British passengers and crew, along with two Anglo-French individuals, one Irish, and one Sri Lankan.
The New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed that two of its citizens were involved but were not among the missing. The identity of the deceased person has not been revealed.
Italian fire brigade divers reached the yacht’s hull, which lay 49 meters underwater, and helicopters have been deployed to assist in the search.
A nearby boat’s captain reported starting his engine to avoid colliding with the “Bayesian” during the storm, only to find the yacht gone once the storm had passed.
The UK’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) is sending four inspectors to Palermo to conduct a preliminary assessment of the incident.
Mike Lynch, the British entrepreneur now missing, has faced legal challenges since 2011, when he sold his company to Hewlett-Packard for $11 billion.
Recently, he was acquitted of fraud charges in San Francisco. The yacht, owned by the Isle of Man-registered Revtom Limited, lists Bacares as its owner.
