London
CNN
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British tech tycoon Mike Lynch, Morgan Stanley International director Jonathan Blumer and prominent American lawyer Chris Morvillo are still missing after a hurricane hit a luxury yacht off the coast of Sicily.
The ship sank on Monday – killing one of the 22 people on board – when the world’s tallest mast broke in half during a storm. 15 people have been rescued.
Blumer and Morvillo’s wives were also missing, Salvatore Cocina, head of the Italian island’s civil protection agency, told reporters at the scene.
Bloomer is non-executive chairman of Morgan Stanley International and chairman of London-listed insurer Hiscox.
“We are deeply shocked and saddened by this tragedy. Our thoughts are with all those affected, especially the Bloomer family, and we all await further news from this horrific situation,” said Morgan Stanley. A spokesperson told CNN.
Hiscox chief executive Aki Hussain said in a statement on Tuesday that the company was “deeply shocked and saddened” by the “sad” news.
“Our thoughts are with all those affected, especially our chair, Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy, with those of the missing and their families as they await further news from this horrific situation,” he added.
After a failed attempt on Monday, divers with the Italian fire brigade will try to re-enter the sunken vessel to search for the missing, Italy’s coast guard said in X.
A spokesman for Italy’s coast guard said the ship was hit by the storm around 5 a.m. local time on Monday. The boat was anchored about half a mile off the port of Porticello on the Mediterranean island.
Strong storms across Sicily brought heavy rain late Sunday, with Prolo, east of Palermo, receiving 4 inches (100 mm) of rain in less than four hours. A report from the European Severe Weather Database revealed that a typhoon – a type of cyclone that forms over water or moves from land to water – developed in the area where the boat was anchored on Monday morning.
A body was found on top of the ship. Among those rescued were Lynch’s wife Angela Bagares, the boat’s captain and a one-year-old girl. Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter is still missing.
An Italian newspaper reported on Tuesday that Bacares and her husband were initially unconcerned when they woke up at 4 a.m. local time because the boat had capsized.
They became concerned when the boat’s windows broke and chaos ensued, he reportedly told La Repubblica in an interview at a hospital in Sicily.
Lynch, a 59-year-old tech investor and entrepreneur, was acquitted in June of a fraud investigation related to the multibillion-dollar sale of the software company he co-founded to Hewlett-Packard. Prosecutors alleged that Lynch planned to inflate Autonomy’s revenue before the sale.
Morvillo, a US attorney at Clifford Chance, was involved in successfully arguing the case against Lynch.
A Clifford Chance spokesman said the law firm was “shocked and deeply saddened”.
“Our thoughts are with our partner Christopher Morvillo and his wife Neda who are among the missing. Our main priority is to provide support to the family and to our colleague Ayla Ronald, who, along with her partner, luckily survived the incident,” the spokesperson added.
According to a report by Italian news agency ANSA, one survivor, Charlotte, 35, described how she struggled to hold on to her one-year-old daughter Sophia.
“In two seconds I lost the baby in the sea, and then I immediately hugged her again amid the fury of the waves. I held her tightly while the sea was rough,” he told ANSA. “Many were screaming.”
The United Kingdom’s Maritime Accident Investigation Branch is sending a team of four investigators to Palermo to conduct a preliminary assessment of the boat, a source familiar with the operation told CNN on Monday. The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, did not say when the team was expected to arrive in Sicily.
The 56-metre (184-foot) yacht “Basian” sailed under the British flag, with mostly British passengers and crew, plus two Anglo-French, an Irishman and a Sri Lankan, spokeswoman for Italy’s coast. The guard told CNN.
The New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade told CNN that the country’s two Civilians were involved in the incident but are not among those still missing. The identity of the deceased has not been disclosed.
Bayesian had the world’s tallest aluminum mast at 72.27 meters (237 feet), its Italian manufacturer Perini Navi said on its website.
The mast was three meters (10 ft) shorter than the tallest mast in the world as ranked by Guinness World Records. That 75-meter (247-foot) carbon-fiber mast belongs to the yacht Mirabella V, built by Vosper Thornycroft in Southampton, UK, according to the Guinness World Records website.
This is a developing story and will be updated. Kathleen Makramo and Sabrina Sosa contributed reporting.
