PORTICELLO, Sicily — Divers recovered four bodies Wednesday from a superyacht that capsized in a sudden storm off Sicily, Salvatore Cocina, director of the island’s civil protection agency, confirmed to NBC News. Two passengers are missing.
Kozina did not say Whose bodies were found but British tech magnate Mike Lynch and others believed to be trapped in the hull of a luxury yacht followed a day-long search in the deep seas off the Italian coast. Of the 22 people on board, 15 survived.
The rest have been missing since early Monday, caught in a Bayesian storm while anchored off the coast of Porticello, a village near the Sicilian capital Palermo.
The body of the ship’s cook, identified as Canadian-Antigua national Regalto Thomas, was recovered on Monday.
On Wednesday, NBC News saw at least three body bags being lifted from fire department boats after they were towed to port in Porticello. It is not clear whose bodies they are. Some were then transferred to ambulances and driven off the dock.
Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter, Hannah; Morgan Stanley International Chairman Jonathan Blumer and his wife Judy; And Clifford Chance attorney Chris Morvillo and his wife, Neda, are also missing.
Bayesian owns a company associated with Lynch’s wife, Angela Bagares, who was among those rescued by a nearby vessel after climbing into a lifeboat.
Built in 2008 by Italian shipbuilder Perini Navi, the UK-registered yacht can accommodate up to 12 guests and a crew of up to 10, according to online specialist yacht sites. According to CharterWorld Luxury Yacht Charters, her nearly 250-foot mast is the world’s tallest aluminum sailboat.
Lynch, routinely described in the UK media as “Britain’s Bill Gates”, was acquitted by a San Francisco jury earlier this year of fraud, stemming from his $11 billion sale of software giant Hewlett-Packard to Autonomy in 2011.
The Mediterranean sailing vacation was designed as a celebration for Lynch, who brought Bloomer, who testified in her support, and Morvillo, one of her U.S. attorneys, on the trip.
Lynch’s co-defendant Stephen Chamberlain is not aboard the Bayesian, but appears to be a sad coincidence. Killed in a car crash Chamberlain was jogging Saturday in a village about 68 miles north of London, local police said.
Claudio Lavanga and Claudia Rizzo report from Porticello. Henry Austin reports from London.
