Sicily yacht sinking: Five bodies found inside Bayesian wreck

Five bodies have been found on day three of a search for six missing people following the sinking of a superyacht on Monday off the coast of Sicily.

The identities of the bodies have not been confirmed by authorities.

The Bayesian yacht – carrying passengers including UK tech mogul Mike Lynch, Morgan Stanley International Bank chair Jonathan Bloomer and Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo – capsized at 5am on Monday off the coast of Palermo, the capital of the Italian island.

The trip was reportedly organised to celebrate 59-year-old Lynch’s recent acquittal in a US criminal fraud case over the sale of Autonomy, the software firm he co-founded, to Hewlett Packard (HP) in 2011.

Of the 22 people on board the Bayesian, 15 were rescued on Monday morning, including Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares.

The body of a man, later confirmed to be boat’s chef Recaldo Thomas, was found on Monday morning.

Since then, rescue teams have been searching the sunken vessel for the remaining six people who were still missing: Lynch, his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, Bloomer, his wife Judy, Morvillo and his wife Neda.

According to Italian media La Repubblica, the bodies of two people were recovered around 2:30pm (UK time), who were were brought to shore in body bags.

BBC News later reported that a further two bodies were found inside the wreck and brought ashore. The outlet said at around 6pm that a fifth had been found, with divers working to retrieve it from the vessel.

One person of the six remains unaccounted for.

Lynch, who launched Autonomy in 1996, was made an OBE for services to enterprise in 2006.

In June, he was cleared in the US of conducting a massive fraud relating to the $11bn (£8.64bn) sale of Autonomy to HP.

However, HP did win a six-year civil fraud suit against Lynch back in 2022 after the English High Court ruled that he defrauded the firm by manipulating Autonomy’s accounts to inflate its valuation ahead of the takeover.

In May last year, Bloomer added a position as chair of UK-based insurer Hiscox to his portfolio. He previously served as chief executive of Prudential between 2000 and 2005.

Morvillo, a partner in Clifford Chance’s New York office. helped to lead the defence in Lynch’s 12-year legal battle. He served as co-counsel for the defence at Lynch’s 12-week criminal trial in US Federal Court earlier this year.

From 1999 to 2005, Morvillo also served as an assistant US Attorney for the Southern District of New York.