Final body found in Sicily yacht wreckage is Hannah Lynch, official says
ROME – The final body has been retrieved from the wreckage of a sunken yacht off Sicily, authorities said Friday, bringing to seven the number of people who died in the disaster.
“I can confirm it to you, the last victim inside the hull has been found,” said Cosimo Nicastro, a spokesman for the Italian coast guard.
Nicastro did not confirm the identity of the final body, but a senior Italian government official told the Washington Post that it has been confirmed to be that of Hannah Lynch, the teenage daughter of British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, who also died. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity in keeping with protocol. Hannah Lynch, 18, was the last passenger missing since the Bayesian sank in a storm off the northern coast of Sicily on Monday.
Mike Lynch’s body was recovered from the wreckage of the 183-foot yacht on Thursday. The British-flagged vessel was carrying 12 passengers and 10 crew members when it encountered what authorities called a “violent storm” about 4 a.m. Monday, roughly half a mile off the Sicilian fishing village of Porticello. It sank to a depth of more than 160 feet.
“The Lynch family is devastated, in shock and is being comforted and supported by family and friends. Their thoughts are with everyone affected by the tragedy,” a spokesperson for the Lynch family said in a statement. “They would like to sincerely thank the Italian coastguard, emergency services and all those who helped in the rescue. Their one request now is that their privacy be respected at this time of unspeakable grief.”
Fifteen people, including Lynch’s wife and Hannah’s mother, Angela Bacares, were rescued shortly after the Bayesian sank. The body of the yacht’s chef, Recaldo Thomas, was recovered during initial search efforts.
Four bodies were pulled from the wreckage Wednesday. They were identified as those of two couples: Jonathan Bloomer, chairman of Morgan Stanley International; Judy Bloomer, a charity trustee; Chris Morvillo, a partner at the law firm Clifford Chance in New York; and Neda Morvillo, a jeweler.
Friends of Hannah Lynch, paid tribute to a “warm and beautiful soul” and called her loss “unbearable.”
“Being with Hannah made me feel whole and happy. She is the most special friend anyone could ask for,” said her friend Katya Lewis, in a statement provided by the Lynch family’s representatives.
Hannah was “sincere, dedicated, fiercely intelligent and genuinely kind. I’ll always remember her smiling,” said Gracie Lea, her classmate at Latymer Upper School in London, which she attended.
Her teacher Jon Mitropoulos-Monk said Hannah “combined sky-high intellectual ability with warmth and enthusiasm.” He said Hannah “devoured” works of English literature, scoring high marks in her national exams, and had been due to attend the University of Oxford to study English, “a goal she had worked so hard towards.”
“I taught Hannah for four years. I will remember her for what she taught me: kindness, compassion and commitment,” he added.
The Bayesian is owned by a company controlled by Bacares, and several of the passengers had business or legal ties to Lynch. Morvillo represented Lynch in a recently concluded legal battle. The voyage was intended to be a celebration of Lynch’s acquittal in the United States of fraud charges, Britain’s Telegraph newspaper has reported.
Lynch, 59, co-founded Autonomy, once Britain’s largest software company, and the cybersecurity firm Darktrace, among other ventures.
He sold Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard in 2011 for more than $11 billion, but was subsequently accused of overvaluing the company and charged by the United States with fraud. He was acquitted on all counts by a federal court in San Francisco in June.
Divers from the Italian fire brigade have been working daily since Monday to recover the bodies, but the position of the yacht, and its narrow and cluttered passages, complicated the effort.