British technology mogul Mike Lynch and his daughter are among six people missing after a majestic luxury superyacht was sunk by a tornado off the coast of Sicily early Monday morning.

Two Americans and two other Britons are also missing after the 184-foot sailing ship Bayesian sank off the coast of Palermo at around 5 a.m. Fifteen passengers and crew members – including a one-year-old girl – were According to local media reports, several people were rescued and the body of a man was recovered.

Lynch, 59, disappeared in the incident, but his wife Angela Bacares was rescued. She said La Republic that she suffered abrasions on her feet during the chaos and can no longer walk.

Henry Nicholls/Reuters

The Daily Mail reported that Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter Hannah was still missing early Monday evening, as was at least one of the elder Lynch’s attorneys. It is unclear whether or not his second daughter was on board.

In June, a jury in San Francisco found Lynch not guilty on 15 counts of fraud related to the sale of his company Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard for $11 billion in 2011.

Lynch, once dubbed Britain’s Bill Gates, thanked jurors at the end of his decade-long legal battle to clear his name. “I look forward to returning to the UK and getting back to what I love most: my family and innovation in my field,” he said after his acquittal.

A lawyer on board the Bayesians’ ill-fated voyage was 36-year-old Ayla Ronald, who The Telegraph reported. Her father, Lin Ronald, told the newspaper that the trip was to celebrate Lynch’s acquittal.

Baia Santa Nicolicchia/Fabio La Bianca

The survivors of the tragedy realized by Monday afternoon at the latest that the missing people were probably dead, Italian officials said.

“We have given this information to the survivors, but they talk and cry all the time because they have realized that there is little hope of finding their friends alive,” doctor Domenico Cipolla told Reuters from a hospital where victims are being housed.

Bayesian was built in 2008 by the Perini Navi shipyard in Italy and refitted in 2020. The vessel featured the world’s tallest aluminum mast, reportedly reaching over 240 feet Boat InternationalThe nautical news site reported that the iconic vessel is one of the 50 largest sailing yachts in the world.

Reuters via handout

Divers reached the wreck of the British-flagged yacht at a depth of over 50 metres. They found the body of a man next to the ship and other bodies were visible through the ship’s portholes, according to the The Sera Corriere Newspaper. The man whose remains were recovered was the ship’s cook, La Republic reports, citing local fire officials. The Email reported that the employee is “presumably” a Canadian citizen.

The one-year-old English girl who survived the disaster was taken to hospital but was unharmed.

“I held her above water with all my strength and stretched my arms up to prevent her from drowning. It was completely dark,” said her mother, who was identified as Charlotte Golunski. The Republic“In the water I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I screamed for help, but all I heard around me were the screams of others.”

on facebook.

Golunski required stitches for a chest injury, while her husband also reportedly suffered minor injuries.

According to the ANSA news agency, the passengers on board the boat were mainly from Great Britain, but also from Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Ireland. Some witnesses told the agency that the ship was anchored off the port of Porticello when the tornado struck.

Karsten Borner, the captain of another boat that was in the area at the time of the storm, said he started his vessel’s engine to maintain control and avoid a collision with the Bayesian.

“We managed to keep the ship in position and when the storm passed, we noticed that the ship behind us had gone,” he said, as reported by Reuters. The other ship “lay flat on the water and then sank,” he added.

Borner said his crew then found several survivors on a life raft, three of whom were seriously injured. They were taken to his ship before the Coast Guard arrived to pick them up.

Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast

According to shipspotting.com, the Bayesian facility is owned by a company called Revtom Limited. Bacares, Lynch’s wife, is the company’s sole shareholder, according to Reuters.

Both Lynch’s doctoral thesis at Cambridge University and the software he used to amass his fortune were based on Bayesian theory, according to the news agency.

“A beautiful boat on which a party had taken place. A normal, happy holiday at sea turned into a tragedy,” a witness told ANSA.

Local restaurant BAIA Santa Nicolicchia shared an image on Facebook purporting to show the Bayesian on Sunday evening around 10pm. The account also posted security camera footage from the early hours of the morning showing strong winds causing damage outside the restaurant.

Italy’s fire and rescue services also released footage of rescue operations using helicopters and boats in the disaster area.

“I was at home when the tornado hit,” local fisherman Pietro Asciutto told Ansa. “I immediately closed all the windows. Then I saw the boat, it had only one mast, it was very big. I saw it suddenly sink.”

One witness, the captain of a trawler, said he had planned to set off on a fishing trip in the early hours of the morning but remained in port after seeing lightning over the water.

“At around 4:15 a.m. we saw a flare in the sea,” Fabio Cefalù said, according to the BBC. “We waited until the waterspout had passed.”

A tornado waterspout is a tornado that either forms over water or moves from land into water, according to NOAA’s National Ocean Service.

When he reached the sea, Cefalù said, he found only pillows and other debris from the deck of the sunken ship.