Mike Lynch's yacht celebration happened at 'wrong place, wrong time' (2024)

It was supposed to be a 'victory' celebration trip for British tech tycoon Mike Lynch after being acquitted of fraud charges.

Joined by his nearest and dearest on £30million superyachtBayesian, the 59-year-old father-of-two from Suffolk wanted to toast to his 'second life' after almost a year under house arrest.

But just before 5am on Monday, his dream party to Sicily turned into a nightmare when his superyacht - carrying 10 crew members and 12 passengers - was hit by a freak waterspout caused by bad weather and sanknear Palermo.

Last night, Mr Lynch – once dubbed the British Bill Gatesand worth an estimated £852million and his daughter Hannah, 18 - who completed her A-levels this summer and has a place to read English at Oxford University – were among six missing and feared dead.

The body of one man, thought to be an onboard chef, has been found, whilespecialist divers fear those unaccounted for could be in the hull of the ship after getting trapped in their cabins.

'They were in the wrong place at the wrong time,' Salvo Cocina of Sicily's civil protection agency said last night.

A desperate search for the missing continued in the darkness.

And in an extraordinary twist, the tragedy comes days after Stephen Chamberlain, an ex-colleague of Mr Lynch – who he had successfully fought the fraud case with – died after being hit by a car.

Here is everything we know so far...

Why was Mike Lynch on the yacht?

In June, Mr Lynch won a 13-year legal fight and was cleared by a San Francisco court of conducting a massive fraud relating to a £8.64 billion sale of hisfirm, Autonomy, to US company Hewlett-Packard in 2011.

If found guilty, it could have landed him 25 years in a US jail.

The entrepreneur - who also owns a home in Chelsea - had spoken of his 'indescribable' relief at being acquitted and joy at returning to Britain, and texted one friend saying it was 'so wonderful to be home'.

He has also spoken at his delight at being able to spend time with his two daughters, 21 and 18, and their six dogs.

To mark his freedom, Mr Lynch had invited guests from legal firm Clifford Chance as well as his own company Invoke Capital to celebrate on the yacht trip.

The father of Ayla Ronald, who was part of Mr Lynch's legal team, confirmed that the sailing trip was supposed to be a celebration of the tycoon's acquittal.

Another guest told doctors at the hospital that the sailing trip was part of a 'corporate holiday'.

What happened to the superyacht?

The yacht sank as a fierce storm battered the area overnight on Sunday.

Mr Lynch's wife Angela Bacares, 57, who was among the rescued recalls the boat suddenly 'tilted' at around 4am, before glass began shattering.

The superyacht had been lit up and illuminating the night sky when a waterspout - a whirling column of air and water mist - unfolded nearby.

Witnesses have described the moment the yacht went down as very sudden, claiming it was as if it just 'disappeared'.

'The boat was all lit up. Around 4.30am, it was no longer there,' said one.

'A normal joyous vacation day at sea turned into tragedy'.

Fisherman Pietro Asciutto said: 'I was at home when the waterspout hit. I immediately closed all the windows. Then I saw the boat, it had only one mast, it was very large. I saw it sink suddenly'.

The Italian Coastguard said in a statement that a nearby boat offered assistance to people before emergency services arrived.

The Sir Robert BP, a Dutch sailing ship which had been anchored by the Bayesian, is believed to have rescued the 15 survivors.

Karsten Borner, the captain of the boat, described how his vessel was battered by strong gusts, with his team working to stabilise it and manoeuvre it to avoid hittingthe Bayesian nearby.

Borner told the BBC:'After the storm was over, we noticed that the ship behind us was gone.'

Fisherman Fabio Cefalù said he had seen a flare from shore at around 4.30am and immediately set out to the site but by the time he got there, the Bayesian had already sunk, with only cushions, wood and other items from the superyacht floating in the water.

'But for the rest, we didn't find anyone,' he said from the port hours later. He said that he immediately alerted the coast guard and stayed on-site for three hours, but didn't find any survivors. 'I think they are inside, all the missing people.'

'We managed to keep the ship in position, and after the storm was over, we noticed that the ship behind us was gone,' he said.

Did the mast snap and cause the yacht to sink?

The enormous 246ft-high aluminium mast on Mr Lynch's superyacht could have been what caused the vessel tocapsize and sink rapidly, according to an expert.

The Bayesian has one of the tallest aluminium masts in the world at 246ft, which broke during the waterspout, causing theship to sink after the weight of the mast took the hull beyond the 'down-flooding angle', technical consultant and nautical expert Gino Ciriaci told Italian websiteCorriere Della Sera.

He added that even if themast was made of steel, it would not have changed anything, as amast that tall would have exerted a pressure of 'tens of tons' due to the wind and said it is 'normal' that the boat could sink based on its technical characteristics.

MrCiriaci, who was a shipyard manager in Rome and is authorized by the Italian Ministry of Industry (Consap) to carry out technical assessments followingaccidents, said a mast can break in 'particularly extreme conditions'.

He said once the mast has fallen, the boat pitches and rolls with the waves much more vigorously without the mast and sails to dampen its movements.

In the case of the Bayesian - which has a gross tonnage of 473 tons - he said the waterspout was so violent that the boat heeled over, tilted and put the edge of the deck under water, and at that point, the water began to enter and the boat sank.

Who is missing?

Mr Lynch is among six people missing.

His wife tragically revealed on Monday that not just her husband was missing after the yacht sank, but also their 18-year-old daughter, Hannah.

Hannah completed her A-levels this summer and had secured a place to study English Literature at Oxford University, according to the Times.

Two more passengers on board the Bayesian who are still missing are the chairman of Morgan Stanley International, Jonathan Bloomer and his wife.

Mr Bloomer is a close friend of Mr Lynch and was confirmed missing by Italian Authorities alongside his wife.

According to his Linkedin profile, Mr Bloomer is the chairman of insurance provider Hiscox and was formerly the chief executive of Prudential before being ousted in a boardroom coup in 2005.

The other two yet to be found are Mr Lynch's attorney Christopher Morvillo and his wife Nada.

Attorney Gary Lincenberg said Morvillo and his wife 'are presumed to be passed away' after the yacht went down near Sicily.

Mr Lincenberg told Business Insider that 'Chris and his wife are gone'.

Where could the six missing passengers be?

There are fears that those who are still missing became trapped in their cabins, with divers earlier reporting that they saw 'bodies through the portholes' of the yacht, according to Italian media.

Francesco Venuto, the spokesperson for Sicily's civil protection agency, also told the BBC that they 'think [the corpses] must be there [in the boat]'.

He added: 'We've been searching all day with helicopters and boats, we've found nothing. That wouldn't make sense, in [these] conditions we should have found something by now.'

Expert divers reached thehullon Monday morning, with more specialist teams brought in as the day went on cables reportedly fixed between the yacht and the surface to allow easier descent.

'The specialists are able to get into small spaces underwater,' a spokesman said.

Last night it emerged, the UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch is deploying a team of four inspectors to Italy to conduct a preliminary assessment.

One body has been found

Tragically, the body of a man was found floating alongside the sunken vessel on Monday.

Authorities identified the man as Canadian Ricardo Thomas, who was working as the boat's chef and was the only crew member unaccounted for.

His bodywas recovered, and police divers spent the day trying to reach the hull of the ship, which was resting at a depth of 163 feet off Porticello where it had been anchored, rescue authorities said.

Who are the survivors?

Mr Lynch's wife Angela Bacares, 57, was among the 15 people who were rescued from the 180ft yacht, which had been carrying 10 crewmembers, Mr Lynch, herself, their daughter and nine guests.

She has revealed that the first sign of the freak waterspout that sunk the luxury sailboat Bayesian just before 5am this morning was a 'slight tilt' that woke her up.

Mrs Bacares said that they were not worried at the time, but that she still got up to see what was happening, until glass shattered and created confusion on board.

She sustained abrasions on her feet - likely after walking on glass shards during the sinking - which have left her unable to walk and sitting in a wheelchair, La Repubblica reports, while she also has bandages on others part of her body.

'The survivors are very tired and are constantly asking about the missing people,'Doctor Domenico Cipolla, Director of Paediatric Admission and Medicine and Surgery at 'Di Cristina' hospital in Palermo, said.

'To my knowledge, there is only one body that has been found, the others are still missing. We have given the survivors this information, but they are talking and crying all the time because they have realised that there is little hope of finding their friends alive,' he added.

British mother Charlotte Golunski and her one-year-old baby called Sofia were reported to be among those rescued by a nearby sailboat, with Dr Cipolla confirming that they were treated at the Di Cristina hospital.

'By the way, I know that there were some young people on board, some very young people. They are very tired and they continually thank us for the care and attention we are giving them and the little girl. They are very tired but they are very sweet people,' Dr Cipolla said.

Ms Golunski, 36, has described how she momentarily lost her daughter in the 'fury of the waves', before finding her and managing to get them both to safety.

'I held her afloat with all my strength, my arms stretched upwards to keep her from drowning,' Ms Golunski said.

'It was all dark. In the water I couldn't keep my eyes open. I screamed for help but all I could hear around me was the screams of others.'

The mother, who is in hospital with her baby where she received treatment for a minor shoulder injury, abrasions and a 'wound that needed stitching', according to Dr Cipolla, described the ordeal as 'terrible', detailing how 'in a few minutes the boat was hit by a very strong wind and sank shortly after.'

Ms Golunski and her little girl were taken to be assessed at the Children's Hospital in Palermo. The baby is said to be doing fine and is unharmed, with tests only carried out as a precaution.

The child's father, a British man called James Emsilie, 36, was taken 'to the adult emergency room where his wounds were sutured' before he was reunited with Ms Golunski and their daughter Sofia, Dr Cipolla said.

Five other people were taken to the Bagheria territorial emergency point.Others reportedly required no hospital treatment, and spoke to authorities about what happened as the incident is being investigated.

Also among those rescued was Clifford Chance lawyer Ayla Ronald, 36, from London,and her partner.

Her father Lin Ronald said that she was part of Dr Lynch's successful legal team who were invited to go on the sailing trip.

Mr Ronald said: 'I have texted with my daughter. She has only said to me that there are deaths, and she and her partner are alive.'

His daughter Ayla had tragically posted a picture of a serene sunset and calm waters to her Instagram story just hours before the superyacht sank.

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 the French Captain Matthew Griffith.

Who is Stephen Chamberlain?

In an extraordinary twist, the tragedy comes days after Stephen Chamberlain, an ex-colleague of Mr Lynch – who he had successfully fought a fraud case with – died after being hit by a car.

Mr Chamberlain was fatally injured just days before billionaire tech tycoon Lynch went missing off the coast of Sicily when a superyacht was caught in a freak 'whirlwind'.

Keen runner Mr Chamberlain, Autonomy's vice president of finance alongside chief executive Lynch, was hit by a car in Cambridgeshire on Saturday morning and was placed on life support.

In a new statement, Chamberlain's lawyer Gary Lincenberg told MailOnline: 'Our dear client and friend Steve Chamberlain was fatally struck by a car on Saturday while out running.

'He was a courageous man with unparalleled integrity. We deeply miss him.

'Steve fought successfully to clear his good name at trial earlier this year, and his good name now lives on through his wonderful family.'

Chamberlain faced the same charges of fraud and conspiracy as his former boss for allegedly scheming to inflate a company's value before it was sold. Both the men were acquitted of all 15 charges by a jury in San Francisco in June.

After leaving the company, Autonomy, in 2012, Chamberlain worked as chief operating officer for cybersecurity firm Darktrace and volunteered as a finance director for Cambridge United soccer club, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Cambridgeshire Police appealed for witnesses after a collision between a pedestrian and a car in Newmarket Road in Stretham, Cambridgeshire, saying a man in his 50s had been taken to hospital with serious injuries.

The law firm that represented Chamberlain in his trial did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

What is Mike Lynch's background?

Mike Lynch has been celebrated as a British business success story.

Born in Ilford, Essex in 1965, he earned a PhD from Cambridge before founding one of the UK's most successful technology companies, Autonomy, in 1996.

The married father of two daughters was awarded an OBE in 2006 for services to enterprise.

That same year, he was appointed to the board of the BBC - and was later elected to then-prime minister David Cameron's council for science and technology in 2011.

He advised Mr Cameron on subjects including 'the opportunities and risks of the development of artificial intelligence (AI) and the government's role in the regulation of these technologies'.

But he later became embroiled in a bitter fraud lawsuit stemming from the disastrous $11billion (£8.3billion) sale of his company Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard in 2011.

The legal battle endured more than a decade, andin March this year Lynchfound himself in a San Francisco courtroomto defend himself against fraud and conspiracy charges.

The 59-year-old tycoon had spent much of the previous year living under house arrest with an electronic tag attached to his ankle.

Mr Lynch had potentially faced up to 20 years in a US prison if found guilty of 16 counts of conspiracy, and securities and wire fraud, which he denied.

In June he was cleared of all charges- amajor victory for the tech guru.

According to an events worker who did work at Mr Lynch's Chelsea home, the businessman had a miniature model of the Bayesian yacht and photos of it on the water in his hallway.

'When I asked him about he told me about its size and how much his family loved spending time on it,' the anonymous staff member told The Times.

'They had a personal chef who worked both on the boat and in their home. When I visited there were leftovers from their last boat trip in the fridge which he let the serving staff have.'