Five bodies found in hunt for superyacht passengers with one still missing, as search ends for the day

21 August 2024, 14:49 | Updated: 21 August 2024, 20:29

Five bodies, including a "heavily built man", were found on Wednesday afternoon in the search for the six missing passengers of the Bayesian superyacht after it sank earlier this week.

Six people were marked as missing after the Bayesian sank off the coast in Sicily early on Monday morning.

They were: British tech tycoon Mike Lynch, his daughter Hannah, banker Jonathan Bloomer, his wife, Judy Bloomer, lawyer Chris Morvillo, and his wife, Neda Morvillo.

Divers have been smashing their way into the wreckage in a bid to find them. Italian officials confirmed on Wednesday afternoon that five bodies had been found, without naming them. Four have been brought back to shore.

It means that six of 22 people who were onboard the yacht are confirmed to have died, after the body of chef Recaldo Thomas was found earlier.

Several media outlets have reported that Mr Lynch and Hannah have been identified among the people found, but this has not been confirmed by Italian authorities.

The search was called off at about 8.30pm local time (7.30pm UK time), and will resume on Thursday.

Sicily civil protection director-general Salvo Cocina said: "On behalf of myself and my colleagues, I would like to express my deepest sympathy to the families of the victims and express our condolences to them at this difficult time."

Despite some reports from Italian and international media, authorities are yet to formally identify the bodies found in today's search.

This is likely because they are waiting to locate all six missing people before informing their families and confirming their identities.

Some 15 people were saved after the wreck.

The captain is recovering in hospital, and spoke for the first time since the wreck earlier this week.

Read more: Missing passengers on superyacht are 'probably dead' after being trapped inside ship as it sank, coastguard says

Super-yacht tragedy: Who is still missing and who has been rescued? What is known so far

Captain James Cutfield, 51, is a "well-respected" sailor and has worked on boats since he was a teen, his brother said.

Hopes are fading for the missing passengers as rescuers fear they are trapped inside the yacht.

It comes after Mr Cutfield, who is currently in hospital, spoke for the first time earlier in the week, telling local media of the abrupt nature of a water spout that caused the ship to sink.

“We just didn’t see it coming,” he said.

His brother, Mark, has since spoken out, saying he is a “very good sailor” and “very well-respected” in the Mediterranean.

Speaking to the NZ Herald, he confirmed that Mr Cutfield is still in hospital but not suffering from injuries “too dramatic”.

“He’s safe, he’s okay,” he said.

Mr Cutfield has been captaining luxury yachts for eight years and has worked in the industry for three decades.

Meanwhile, Italian prosecutors have opened an investigation into the disaster, seeking to establish why the boat sank and if any of the crew are criminally liable.

One expert at the scene in Sicily told reporters an early focus would be on whether the access hatches into the vessel were closed before the storm struck.

Sam Jefferson, editor of the magazine Sailing Today, said: “I would have said that the boat got hit very hard by the wind, it was pinned over on its side.

“I imagine all the doors were open because it was hot, so there were enough hatches and doors open that it filled with water very quickly and sank like that.

“The reason it got pinned over so hard was because the mast is huge.”

The Italian Coastguard has not ruled out the possibility that those missing.

Jeremy Bloomer, Jonathan Bloomer's twin brother, told the BBC: "It's a slow process and it will take time. So there might be air pockets, but we don't know. It's still wait and see, so fingers crossed".

The body recovered at the scene of the sinking on Monday was that of Canadian-Antiguan national Recaldo Thomas, who was working on the Bayesian superyacht, the Italian Coastguard told Sky News.

Gareth Williams, a friend of the chef, told the BBC: "I can talk for everyone that knew him when I say he was a well-loved, kind human being with a calm spirit."

CCTV footage shows weather in Porticello on morning luxury yacht sank

Another friend, Eli Fuller, told the outlet Mr Thomas was "friends with everybody", "always positive" and "sought after" in his profession.

Bayesian was moored around half a mile off the coast of Porticello when it sank at around 5am local time on Monday as the area was hit by a storm.

Vincenzo Zagarola of the Italian Coastguard said the six missing tourists were feared dead.

Asked about the likelihood of them being alive, he said: "Never say never, but reasonably the answer should be not."

He told the PA news agency: "We think they are still inside the boat, that is our very hard idea.

"Our search and rescue activity by sea and air has gone on for around 36 hours.

"Of course, we do not exclude that they are not inside the boat, but we know the boat sank quickly.

"We suppose that the six people missing may not have had time to get out of the boat."

Italy's fire brigade Vigili del Fuoco said it is developing a plan to enter the wreckage of Bayesian, which is resting on the seabed off the coast at a depth of 50 metres.

It described the operation as "complex", with divers limited to 12-minute underwater shifts.

Dr Jean-Baptiste Souppez, a senior lecturer of mechanical, biomedical and design engineering at Aston University, said the next 24 hours are "crucial" to find survivors trapped inside the wreck.

"The speed at which the vessel sank (a few minutes, according to survivor and witness accounts) and the fact that it remains intact and on its side could favour the formation of small air pockets inside," he said.

"This is obviously highly speculative and impossible to predict accurately.

"A sign the rescuers may be looking for is a banging noise at regular intervals.

"This is common practice on submarines and was one of the signs the search mission for the Titan submarine was looking for after it went missing last year.

"But whether air pockets formed on the Bayesian is simply impossible to predict."

Of the 22 passengers and crew onboard, 15 - including Mr Lynch's wife, Angela Bacares - were rescued after escaping onto a lifeboat.

The Mirror reported Ms Bacares is in a "state of shock and sadness" as she awaits news of her husband. She has reportedly been joined by the couple's elder daughter who was not aboard the boat.

More of the yacht's rescued crew members were named by the Italian Coastguard on Tuesday, with Leo Eppel and South African nationals Leah Randall and Katja Chicken all confirmed as having been on board.

Survivors are recuperating at a hotel complex in Porticello where authorities are gathering witness statements.

Mr Lynch, who founded software giant Autonomy in 1996, was cleared in June of conducting a massive fraud relating to the 11 billion US dollar (£8.64 billion) sale to US company Hewlett Packard.

The boat trip was a celebration of his acquittal.

The Financial Times reported that Mr Bloomer appeared at trial as a defence witness for Mr Lynch, while media reports suggest the pair are close friends.

A spokesperson for Morgan Stanley said the bank was "shocked and saddened" while Clifford Chance said it was a "tragic incident".

David Tabizel, Mr Lynch's Autonomy co-founder, told Sky News: "I'm just heartbroken for him and his family and I hope there's a miracle about to occur.

"If anyone has the resilience to survive this - he does. And I hope he's found an air pocket."

Mr Tabizel added: "He has been one of the most influential, intelligent and most honourable human beings I have ever had the honour of knowing."

The former school of Mr Lynch's daughter has said its "thoughts are with their family and everyone involved".

A spokesperson for Latymer Upper School in Hammersmith, west London, said: "We are all incredibly shocked by the news that Hannah and her father are among those missing in this tragic incident and our thoughts are with their family and everyone involved as we await further updates."

Ed Llewellyn, British ambassador to Italy, met some of the survivors of the sinking at a hotel.

Ayla Ronald, 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 a thanks for assistance in Mr Lynch's recent court case.

Another of the survivors, British tourist Charlotte Emsley, told la Repubblica she held her one-year-old daughter, Sofia, to stop her from drowning.

Charlotte and Sofia were treated in hospital, as was Sofia's father, James Emsley.

In a separate incident, Mr Lynch's co-defendant in his US fraud trial, Stephen Chamberlain, died after being hit by a car while out running in Cambridgeshire on Saturday.

In a statement released through Cambridgeshire Police, Mr Chamberlain's family said: "Steve was a much-loved husband, father, son, brother and friend.

"He was an amazing individual whose only goal in life was to help others in any way possible."