Body Of Mike Lynch’s Daughter Recovered, Amid Allegations Of Crew Mistakes

The tragic events surrounding the death of tech entrepreneur and former Autonomy CEO Mike Lynch, took another sad twist on Friday after the recovery of the body of his 18 year-old daughter.

The Italian coastguard reportedly said the body of Hannah Lynch had been recovered from the sunken wreck of the Bayesian – a yacht owned by the Lynch family.

The Associated Press reported that although the woman’s body has not yet been officially identified, Hannah Lynch was the final remaining missing person from the boating tragedy. A body bag was brought ashore by Italian rescuers on Friday.

Recovery operation

The yacht Bayesian had capsized and sunk in the early hours of Monday 19 August, off the coast of Sicily during a freak storm.

Civil protection officials said they believe the ship was struck by a tornado over the water, known as a waterspout, and sank quickly.

On Wednesday rescue divers eventually discovered five bodies within the wreck and recovered them ashore.

Dr Mike Lynch was officially confirmed dead on Thursday and tributes began to pour in.

Alongside Mike Lynch, the other bodies were confirmed to be Morgan Stanley non-executive chairman Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy Bloomer; Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda Morvillo.

Mike Lynch’s daughter had remained unaccounted for due to the difficult nature of the recovery. Rescue divers can only search the wreck for 10 minutes at a time, and the rescue inside the wreck is reportedly being hampered by furniture and other debris.

The wreck is lying 50 metres down on the seabed.

The yacht was named after Lynch’s research in Bayesian probability theory, which was the basis of his work in technology.

Crew errors?

Meanwhile on Thursday the yacht manufacturer’s CEO suggested to Reuters that a series of “indescribable, unreasonable errors” by the crew led to the shipwreck.

He had earlier described the 56-metre-long (184-foot) superyacht as “unsinkable”.

“The boat suffered a series of indescribable, unreasonable errors, the impossible happened on that boat … but it went down because it took on water. From where, the investigators will tell,” Giovanni Costantino, CEO of The Italian Sea Group (owner of the flagship brand Perini Navi), told Reuters in an interview.

The CEO ruled out any design or construction errors, which he called unlikely after 16 years of trouble-free navigation, including in more severe weather than on Monday.

He reportedly blamed the Bayesian’s crew for the “incredible mistake” of not being prepared for the storm, which had been announced in shipping forecasts. “This is the mistake that cries out for vengeance,” he said.

Costantino said passengers should have been summoned out of their cabins and assembled at a point of safety while the boat was being prepared for the storm by pulling up the anchor, closing doors and hatches, lowering the keel to increase stability and other measures.

Had correct procedures been followed, all passengers would have gone back to sleep after one hour “and the next morning they would have happily resumed their wonderful cruise,” Costantino was quoted as saying.

Bayesian sinking

Another yacht anchored near the Bayesian escaped unharmed.

The captain of the sunken yacht and other crew members have not commented publicly on the disaster, while Italian prosecutors investigating it are due to hold a press conference on Saturday.

However some eyewitnesses have reportedly said the yacht heeled, or tipped onto its side, in the extreme weather until it began taking on water.

The Bayesian “went flat on the water, and then down”, Karsten Borner, the captain of a nearby vessel, reportedly told journalists earlier in the week.

Manslaughter charges?

The Guardian, quoting the Italian news agency Adnkronos, reported that the public prosecutor of Termini Imerese is investigating charges of shipwreck, disaster and multiple homicides over the sinking.

These are similar to manslaughter charges in the UK and the specific charge of provoking or causing a shipwreck can carry a prison sentence of up to 12 years.

Lynch, aged 59, had been celebrating his acquittal on fraud charges in the US when the yacht capsized at about 4.30am local time on Monday.

Adnkronos also reported that investigators believed that the ship sank bow first and then slowly capsized on to its right side.

Five of the victims were reportedly found in different rooms from those indicated by survivors.