Morgan Stanley International chairman Jonathan Bloomer among missing after superyacht was hit by tornado and sank
20 August 2024, 08:37 | Updated: 20 August 2024, 09:56
Morgan Stanley International chairman Jonathan Bloomer has been named among the missing after a superyacht carrying UK tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch sank off the coast of Sicily.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
Head of the civil protection agency in Sicily, Salvatore Cocina, said Mr Bloomer and lawyer Chris Morvillo, were among the six people missing.
Mike Lynch and his daughter Hannah, 18, remain unaccounted for.
In a separate development, Mr Lynch’s co-defendant in a US trial Stephen Chamberlain, died after being hit by a car while out running in Cambridgeshire.
Mr Chamberlain was the former vice-president of finance at Autonomy, Mike Lynch’s firm.
He was hit on Saturday morning and had been on life support, but died after being ‘fatally struck,’ his lawyer said.
The yacht, the Bayesian, was carrying 22 people at the time it sank.
The ship’s chef has been confirmed dead. There are British, American and Canadian citizens among the missing.
So far 15 people have been rescued, including Mr Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, and a one-year-old British girl who was held above the waves by her mother.
A spokesperson for Mr Lynch has declined to comment.
Italy's fire brigade Vigili del Fuoco said on X that early inspections of the wreck were "unsuccessful" due to limited access to the bridge and furniture obstructing passages.
Four of the missing passengers are British and two are American, Italian news website la Repubblica stated.
Mr Lynch, who founded software giant Autonomy in 1996, was made an OBE for services to enterprise in 2006.
In June, he was cleared of conducting a massive fraud relating to an 11 billion dollar (£8.64 billion) sale to US company Hewlett Packard.
The Financial Times reported Johnathan Bloomer appeared at trial as a defence witness for Mr Lynch, while media reports suggest the pair are close friends.
Mr Bloomer is also chairman of insurance provider Hiscox. The Daily Mail reports his wife is also unaccounted for.
Ayla Reynold, a New Zealand national working at Clifford Chance, survived the ordeal. Her father Lin Ronald confirmed to the Telegraph she had been invited aboard as thanks for assistance in Mr Lynch's recent court case.
"I have texted my daughter and she hasn't given me any updates about missing personnel or saved personnel. She has only said that there are deaths and she and her partner are alive," he said.
"Ayla is a lawyer who is part of the legal team that were invited to go sailing as a result of the success in the recent United States court case."
Sicily's civil protection agency said that 18-year-old Hannah Lynch was among those missing with her father, along with the yacht's chef, Ricardo Thomas.
The yacht was carrying 10 crew members and 12 passengers.
Fifteen people including Mr Lynch's wife, Angela Bacares, were rescued, according to local media.
The British-flagged superyacht capsized at about 5am local time on Monday morning off the coast of Palermo when the area was hit by a tornado.
The yacht sank as a fierce storm battered the area on Monday night.
Fabio Cefalu, a fisherman who witnessed the freak storm, told Italian media he stayed on site for several hours.
"After 10 minutes we saw a flare in the sky, we waited about 10 minutes to see the intensity of the tornado and we went out to sea," he said.
"We were first to give rescue but we found no one at sea, we only found cushions and the remains of the boat."
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.
One of the survivors, British tourist Charlotte Emsley, told la Repubblica she held her one-year-old daughter, Sofia, to stop her from drowning.
She said: "I held her afloat with all my strength, my arms stretched upwards to keep her from drowning.
"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."
Charlotte and Sofia are being treated in hospital, as is Sofia's father, James Emsley.
Karsten Borner, captain of a nearby boat, told journalists those missing included the Bayesian's owner and a child, news agency Reuters reported.
He said his crew took on board some survivors who were on a life raft, including three who were seriously injured.
He added: "I think they are inside, all the missing people."
A spokesman for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said on Monday: "We are in contact with the local authorities following an incident in Sicily, and stand ready to provide consular support to British nationals affected."
The Marine Accident Investigation Branch said four of its inspectors were being deployed to Palermo.
A basic assessment of the scene will be made by the team, with no investigation launched at this stage, the PA news agency understands.
Bayesian completed a number of sailings in recent days, calling at various ports in Sicily, according to ship-tracking website VesselFinder.
The superyacht can accommodate up to 12 guests in six suites, and is listed for rent for up to 195,000 euros (£166,000) a week.
She was built in 2008 by Italian company Perini Navi.
Her registered owner is listed as Revtom Ltd, which is based on the Isle of Man.
It has since emerged that the co-defendant of Mr Lynch in his US fraud trial, Stephen Chamberlain, died after being hit by a car whilst out running on Saturday.
Gary Lincenberg, Mr Chamberlain's lawyer, said in a statement: "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."
Mr Lynch is of Irish heritage - his father was a fireman from Co Cork, and his mother was a nurse from Co Tipperary.
In a 2015 radio interview, Mr Lynch confirmed that he was born in Ilford in London, despite a number of reports that he was born in Ireland and raised in England.
He said during the same interview that he spent childhood summers in Carrick-On-Shannon and Tipperary and has family who still live there.
