British tech tycoon among missing as yacht sinks during storm in Italy

British technology tycoon Mike Lynch is among six tourists missing after a luxury yacht sank in a storm off the coast of Sicily, sources said.

A body, believed to be that of the vessel’s chef, has been found and police divers are trying to reach the hull of the ship, which is resting at a depth of 50 metres.

Four of the missing passengers are British and two are American, Italian news website la Reppublica stated.

The yacht was carrying 10 crew members and 12 passengers.

Fifteen people were rescued, according to local media.

The British-flagged superyacht, named Bayesian, capsized at about 5am local time off the coast of Palermo when the area was hit by a tornado.

Mr Lynch, who founded software giant Autonomy in 1996, was made an OBE for services to enterprise in 2006.

A spokesperson for Mr Lynch said there was no comment.

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

The daily Il Giornale di Sicilia newspaper reported that the vessel had mostly British passengers on board, but also people from New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Ireland and British-French citizens.

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#sicily #yacht #news

[laurencecope]

Hats off for the local captians who rescued so many.

[onuohaemekanwaobilor]

May the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace

[marcocapobianco]

I am not a naval engineer but I believe that inspectors are not needed to know the causes of the sinking. A boat only 50 m long and 10 m wide cannot have a mast of more than 70 meters. The tall mast certainly increased the oscillation of the boat, causing it to take on water.

[mkrocky]

Thousands of Palestinians kids are missing too.

[victoriasalter]

I wish for all of them to be rescued and found alive and well…

[PokiDonnie]

The ocean man that place is terrifying lol

[SecretState]

Chefs and their billionaire employers seem to be having drama ...Obama's chef drowned too ....probably saw too much 😂😂

[Spv]

Why have you got someone who clearly struggles to read narrating this video? Seems odd when the entire purpose of the job is reading 🤣

[Lacehairwigs]

This is horrible. We just got back from Italy and were in the water most days 😢

[John-cro]

That mast looks far too tall for the size of that yacht.... Even a small amount of sail exposed in that storm would have flipped it over.

[Mikewho-sr]

Why u on a boat a 5am partying with a 1yr old 😮

[robmann]

Weather forecasts are available in Europe now everybody.

[maristoldboys]

The captain should have moved the vessel to the nearest port of refuge, cove etc. Here in Fiji storms and tropical cyclones are a fact of life. No human built vessel can withstand nature's fury.

[aberdeendeltaforce]

If you screw HP for $8 billion then your yacht is going to sink 🤷🏼‍♂️

[paulwally]

British tech tycoon? You can't say that!

[yaarisacredvibrations]

Only the main stream media does not think this is all a bit dodgy, wasn’t his partner tragically killed recently after a mysterious hit and run 2+2 = 🤔🤨

[DellaWatson-czmq]

'they' did it... He won his case in court and 'they' want their money back... We use maritime law to govern the land... If one goes missing at sea anything owned by said person then becomes the property of the govt after 7 years. How convenient that this happened after him winning the court case 😮

[harrycallahan]

What has he done for humanity exactly?

[Myeggsandwichisalive]

He looks like the villain from austin power-

[Lunaluna-csli]

This reminds me of Rupert Murdoch!!! Case,