Mike Lynch: British tech entrepreneur among missing after Bayesian yacht sinks off Sicily

Rescuers look for Autonomy founder among six missing as waterspout claims one life

One person is dead and six are missing, including British technology entrepreneur Mike Lynch, after a 56-metre superyacht was sunk by a waterspout off the coast of the Italian island of Sicily.

The British-flagged Bayesian, which had 22 people on board, capsized about 5am on Monday off Palermo in the Mediterranean in bad weather.

The vessel, which cost about £166,000 a week to rent, had a crew of 10 and was carrying 12 passengers, the Italian coastguard said.

Fifteen people were rescued and taken ashore at Porticello, where eight were being treated in hospital. The rescued included Mr Lynch's wife and a one-year-old child. The body of a man was found near the wreckage.

One of the survivors, Charlotte Golunski, said she was thrown into the water with her one-year-old daughter.

An Italian Coastguard boat and a fireboat search for the missing. AFP

Six people were unaccounted for, said Luca Cari, an Italian fire and rescue service spokesman. Those reported missing were initially said to be four British passengers, two Americans and a Canadian.

Mr Lynch, the founder of software company Autonomy, is among the missing, a source said. He was acquitted of a multibillion-pound fraud in the US in June. A representative of the businessman said there was no comment.

Mr Lynch, 59, was acquitted by a jury in San Francisco of fraud charges linked to the sale of his software company, Autonomy, to Hewlett-Packard for $11 billion in 2011.

The sale cemented his reputation as Britain's answer to Bill Gates, but it quickly turned sour after Hewlett-Packard wrote down Autonomy's value by $8.8 billion.

Mr Lynch said he was “elated” to be cleared in the criminal trial, during which he took the stand in his own defence, denying to jurors any wrongdoing and blaming HP for botching the integration of the two companies.

Mike Lynch, former chief executive of Autonomy Corp, leaves the Rolls Building in London, in 2019. Getty Images

'Bad weather expected, but not of this magnitude'

“The wind was very strong. Bad weather was expected but not of this magnitude,” a coastguard official in Palermo told Reuters.

The yacht was anchored 700 metres from Porticello port when it was struck by a waterspout, which resembles a mini tornado over a body of water. They can form during severe thunderstorms.

Ms Golunski said she and her daughter was thrown into the sea as bad weather battered the area.

"For two seconds I lost my baby in the sea, then I immediately hugged her again amid the fury of the waves," she said. "I held her tightly close to me while the sea was stormy.

"Many were screaming. Luckily the lifeboat inflated and 11 of us managed to get on board. 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."

Emergency ward chief Dr Domenico Cipolla, of Giovanni di Cristina paediatric hospital in Palermo, said Ms Golunski told him that “while they were sleeping, at a certain point the yacht overturned due to the tornado, and they found themselves in the water".

“Some of them immediately managed to get on to the lifeboat. And some, evidently, didn’t make it," Dr Cipolla said.

"She told me that she was in the water for no more than two, three seconds, and she managed to save the baby, to keep her arms up, and then, with the others, they were able to get on the lifeboat. And then, I think, they were rescued by the coastguard.

“They are all in good condition. We managed to get the parents to talk (to each other) on the phone. All the doctors and nurses were all very moved, also because the little girl is fine, the prognosis is good and we are carrying out tests just to be careful.”

The captain of a vessel called Sir Robert, which saved some passengers at the scene of the wreck, said the Bayesian tilted to one side and sank within a few minutes.

“It all happened in a very short time," he was quoted as saying by Italian news outlet Notizie.

Emergency and rescue services involved in the search on Monday off the coast of Sicily. EPA

Pietro Asciutto, a fisherman, told Ansa news agency: “I saw the boat, it just had one mast, it was really big. I saw it suddenly sink.”

Fisherman Fabio Cefalu said he rushed to the yacht's help.

“But we didn't find anyone in the sea, we only found cushions and the remains of the boat,” he told AFP.

Survivors reportedly included two people with joint French and British nationalities, a Sri Lankan, a New Zealander and an Irish citizen.

A helicopter and rescue boats from the coastguard, Carabinieri, fire rescue and civil protection service teams were at the scene searching for the missing and found the wreck 50 metres down.

Experienced deepwater divers were arriving at the scene to try to enter the hull, said Mr Cari.

Daily newspaper Il Giornale di Sicilia reported the yacht was flying a British flag.

Bayesian, the 56-metre yacht that sank off Sicily early on Monday, pictured in port on the Italian island on Sunday night. PA

According to Superyacht Times, the Bayesian was made by Italian boat builder Perini Navi and delivered in 2008.

The vessel could accommodate up to 12 guests in six staterooms.

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 tracking app Vesselfinder.

The UK Foreign Ministry said British officials were in contact with Sicilian authorities and were ready to provide consular support for citizens who were affected.

The Marine Accident Investigation Branch said four of its inspectors were being deployed to Palermo.

It is understood that a basic assessment of the scene will be made by the team, with no investigation launched at this stage.