(Scypre.com) – Morgan Stanley International chairman Jonathan Bloomer is among the six people missing after a yacht carrying UK tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch sank off the coast of Sicily during a violent storm, according to an Italian official. The yacht, named Bayesian, was anchored near Porticello when it was struck by a tornado early Monday morning, causing it to sink.
Salvatore Cocina, head of the civil protection agency in Sicily, reported that Bloomer, alongside Chris Morvillo, a lawyer at Clifford Chance, are among those still unaccounted for. Also missing are Lynch, his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, and two others. The tragedy occurred as Lynch’s co-defendant in a US fraud trial, Stephen Chamberlain, was reported to have died in a separate incident after being hit by a car in England.
The 56-meter British-flagged Bayesian had 22 people on board, including 12 passengers and 10 crew members. The Italian coastguard confirmed the death of one man, reportedly the yacht’s chef, while 15 others were rescued. Among the survivors are Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, who owned the yacht, and a one-year-old girl who was saved by her mother.
Rescue operations were underway as divers attempted to reach the sunken yacht, which now lies at a depth of 49 meters. The incident is under investigation by the public prosecutor’s office in Termini Imerese.
The storm, described as unusually intense, was unexpected in its severity, according to a coast guard official in Palermo. Karsten Borner, the captain of a nearby vessel, recounted how he managed to keep his ship steady during the storm, only to find the Bayesian had vanished when the weather subsided. He and his crew later discovered some survivors on a life raft, including the baby girl and her mother, whom they rescued before the coastguard arrived.
Eight of the rescued individuals, including the infant, were hospitalized and are reported to be in stable condition. Domenico Cipolla, a chief physician at Di Cristina hospital in Palermo, confirmed that the baby and her mother are both doing well and that the father would be discharged soon. Cipolla noted that the survivors, many of whom were colleagues of Lynch, were deeply traumatized by the loss of their friends.
New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that two New Zealanders were aboard the yacht. One of them, lawyer Ayla Ronald, survived the ordeal. Her father, Lin Ronald, confirmed to the Guardian that his daughter, who had been working in London on Lynch’s fraud case, was safe but shaken.
The incident follows a period of severe storms and heavy rainfall across Italy, exacerbated by unusually high sea temperatures in the Mediterranean, which experts believe contributed to the extreme weather conditions. Meteorologist Luca Mercalli explained that the sea surface temperature around Sicily was about 30°C (86°F), nearly 3°C higher than normal, creating conditions ripe for severe storms. While global warming cannot be solely blamed, it likely played a role in amplifying the storm’s intensity.