PORTICELLO, Sicily- Divers recovered four bodies Wednesday from inside a luxury superyacht that sank during a sudden storm off Sicily’s coast, Salvatore Cocina, director of the island’s Civil Protection Agency, confirmed to NBC News. Two passengers remain missing.
The discovery comes after a dayslong search for British tech tycoon Mike Lynch and others believed trapped in the hull of the Bayesian, a luxury sailboat that capsized early Monday while anchored off Porticello, near Palermo.
Fifteen of the 22 people aboard survived the sinking. The body of the ship’s cook, identified as Canadian-Antiguan national Recaldo Thomas, was recovered Monday.
Cocina did not identify the newly recovered bodies. NBC News witnessed what appeared to be at least three body bags being lifted from fire department boats at Porticello port. Some were later transferred to ambulances.
Among those still missing are Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter, Hannah; Morgan Stanley International Chairman Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy; and Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda.
The U.K.-registered Bayesian, built in 2008 by Italian shipbuilder Perini Navi, is owned by a firm linked to Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, who survived the accident. The yacht, capable of carrying 12 guests and 10 crew members, boasts the world’s tallest aluminum sailing mast at nearly 250 feet.
Lynch, often described in U.K. media as “Britain’s Bill Gates,” was recently acquitted of fraud charges in San Francisco related to the 2011 sale of his software company Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard for $11 billion. The Mediterranean sailing trip was reportedly a celebration of this legal victory, with Lynch inviting Bloomer, who testified in his defense, and Morvillo, one of his U.S. lawyers.
In an apparent tragic coincidence, Lynch’s co-defendant Stephen Chamberlain, who was not aboard the Bayesian, died Saturday after being struck by a car while jogging near London, local police reported.
