Moment luxury yacht sinks off coast of Italy caught on camera, with 6 presumed dead
Grainy CCTV footage shows the moment a storm struck the Bayesian luxury yacht, which sank Aug. 19, 2024, off the coast of Italy. Six people are missing, officials say. (Giornale di Sicilia)
The Italian coast guard on Thursday confirmed that billionaire tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch's body was among the four recovered from the water yesterday after his superyacht sank off the Italian coast on Monday.
The 184-foot British-flagged Bayesian carrying English entrepreneurs, lawyers and tourists capsized and sank off Sicily in bad weather early Monday, when divers rescued 15 people.
The identities of the other three bodies recovered Wednesday have not been disclosed, and one person is still missing Divers also recovered the body of chef Recaldo Thomas on Monday.
Among the rescued was Ayla Ronald, senior associate at Clifford Chance, a global law firm that recently handed a win to Lynch, who was acquitted of fraud accusations in San Francisco in June, according to The Telegraph.
Italian firefighter scuba divers bring ashore, in the green bag, the body of one of the victims from the British-flagged vessel Bayesian, Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024. The yacht was hit by a violent sudden storm and sank early Monday, while at anchor off the Sicilian village of Porticello near Palermo, in southern Italy. (Salvatore Cavalli)
Ronald's father, Lin Ronald, told the outlet that he texted his daughter after the superyacht sank.
MOMENT LUXURY YACHT SINKS OFF COAST OF ITALY CAUGHT ON CAMERA, WITH 6 PRESUMED DEAD
Emergency services carry a body bag after a sailboat sank in the early hours of Monday, off the coast of Porticello, near the Sicilian city of Palermo, Italy, August 19, 2024. (REUTERS/Igor Petyx)
"[S]he hasn’t given me any updates about missing personnel or saved personnel. She has only said to me that there are deaths, and she and her partner are alive," Lin Ronald told The Telegraph, adding that his daughter "is a lawyer who is part of the legal team that was invited to go sailing as a result of the success in the recent United States court case."
Among the rescued was Ayla Ronald, senior associate at Clifford Chance, a global law firm that recently handed a win to billionaire tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, who was acquitted of fraud accusations in San Francisco in June, according to The Telegraph. (Clifford Chance)
Two Americans and four British nationals remain among the missing or unidentified. The two Americans are Christopher Morvillo, a New York City partner at Clifford Chance who helped with Lynch's fraud case, and his wife, Neda Morvillo, a jewelry designer.
"We are in shock and deeply saddened by this tragic incident. Our thoughts are with our Partner, Christopher Morvillo, and his wife Neda who are among the missing, and with their families," a Clifford Chance spokesperson told Fox News Digital. "Our utmost priority is providing support to the family as well as our colleague Ayla Ronald, who together with her partner, thankfully survived the incident. Our thoughts extend to the other passengers and crew and all those affected. We have no further comment at this time. We, and the families, ask that their request for privacy is honored during this period."
Neda Morvillo and Chris Morvillo attend Summer Birthday Cocktails For Lawrence Kaplan at Tower 270 - Rooftop on June 21, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Patrick McMullan/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
Morvillo, who owns residences in New York City and South Kent, celebrated Lynch's June 6 acquittal on LinkedIn in one of his final social media posts before the luxury boat accident, eerily writing that his family would live "happily ever after."
"A huge thank you to my patient and incredible wife, Neda Morvillo, and my two strong, brilliant and beautiful daughters, Sabrino Morvillo and Sophia Morvillo," he wrote after thanking the legal team that helped in Lynch's legal success.
WHO IS MIKE LYNCH, THE BRITISH TECH ENTREPRENEUR MISSING AFTER YACHT SANK?
Emergency and rescue services work near the scene where a sailboat sank in the early hours of Monday off the coast of Porticello, near the Sicilian city of Palermo, Italy, August 19, 2024. (REUTERS/Igor Petyx)
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The boat sank sometime around 5 a.m. Monday near the port of Porticello, where it was anchored, according to the Italian coast guard. There were a total of 10 crew members and 12 passengers aboard the ship at the time.
"The wind was very strong. Bad weather was expected, but not of this magnitude," a coast guard official in Palermo told Reuters.
Fox News' Pilar Arias, Christina Coulter and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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