Morgan Stanley International Chairman Jonathan Bloomer and his wife are among six people missing after Mike Lynch’s superyacht sank off the coast of Sicily, Italian authorities said.
The luxury yacht Bayesian was moored off the coast of Porticello when a waterspout struck the area at around 5am on Monday morning, destroying the yacht and causing it to sink rapidly.
Although one person tragically died and 15 people survived the disaster, six people, including British tech billionaire Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter, are still missing.
The other four yet to be found are Mr. Bloomer and his wife, and Lynch’s attorney Christopher Morvillo and his wife Nada.
Lynch had invited family and friends to the yacht to celebrate his victory over fraud charges in the US.
The billionaire had invited guests from law firm Clifford Chance and his own company Invoke Capital after he was acquitted in June.
Mr. Bloomer is a close friend of Lynch and was reported missing by Italian authorities.
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Mike Lynch (pictured) invited family and friends to his superyacht to celebrate his triumph over fraud allegations in the US. Lynch is missing, along with his 18-year-old daughter Hannah
Morgan Stanley International Chairman Jonathan Bloomer (pictured) and his wife are also missing.
Lynch’s attorney Christopher Morvillo (pictured) and his wife Nada are also missing.
The luxury sailing ship Bayesian was moored off the coast of Porticello when a waterspout hit the area at around 5am on Monday
According to his LinkedIn profile, Mr. Bloomer is chairman of insurance company Hiscox and was previously CEO of Prudential until he was ousted in a boardroom coup in 2005.
Four of the missing passengers are British and two are Americans. It is feared that those who have not yet been found were asleep in their cabins when the boat went under.
Among the 15 survivors is a one-year-old British baby named Sofia, who was kept afloat by her mother, 36-year-old Charlotte Golunski.
Ms Golunski, an Oxford graduate and senior associate at Invoke, also survived after fighting to prevent her child from drowning.
The mother told the Italian newspaper Republicca: ‘I kept her afloat with all my strength, my arms reaching up to prevent her from drowning.
‘It was completely dark. In the water I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I screamed for help, but all I could hear around me were the screams of others.’
Mrs Golunski’s British husband, James Emsilie, 36, also survived the tragedy.
Another survivor is 36-year-old lawyer Ayla Ronald of Clifford Chance, who was part of the successful legal team that was invited to sail with Lynch, according to her father Lin.
Mr. Ronald told The Telegraph: ‘I have been texting my daughter and she has not given me any updates on missing or rescued staff. She has only told me that there have been casualties and that she and her partner are alive.’
Lawyer Ayla Ronald, 36, (pictured), who was part of the successful legal team invited to sail with Lynch, is one of the survivors
Charlotte Golunski, 36, (pictured) also outlived her husband and her one-year-old baby
Lynch remains missing, while his wife Angela (pictured) survived and is recovering
Luxury sailboat Bayesian sank quickly after being caught in a ‘whirlwind’ in Sicily
Other survivors included Irish woman Sasha Murray, 29, Matthew Fletcher, 41, from London, James Calfield, 51, from New Zealand, Myin Htun Kyaw, 39, from Myanmar and French captain Matthew Griffith.
They were rescued by crews from nearby boats, including Karsten Borner, the captain of a sailing ship anchored near the Bayesian, who said his team struggled to keep their boat afloat when the tornado struck.
Fabio Cefalu, a fisherman in Porticello who witnessed the tragedy, said he saw a waterspout – a kind of mini-tornado – shortly before 4am that lasted about 12 minutes.
At around 4:10 a.m., he said he saw a red flare go off from Bayesian, but when he reached the area about 20 minutes later, the yacht had all but disappeared. “We only found the cushions and a few planks floating in the water,” he said.
