Bayesian superyacht search ends in tragedy as divers recover five bodies, including tech tycoon Mike Lynch

A desperate search of the sunken superyacht Bayesian ended in tragedy yesterday with the discovery of five bodies.

Italian authorities believe two of those recovered from the wreck on the seabed are British tech tycoon Mike Lynch and his teenage daughter, Hannah.

Four bodies were found on the lower deck of the yacht and brought into port at Porticello, where a bell rang out each time.

Efforts to retrieve a fifth body had to be called off last night, while a sixth passenger remains missing.

Formal identification will take place in the coming days. Under Italian law, a body must be identified by a family member or someone close to the victim.

Yesterday’s heart-breaking discovery was made by divers who have been scouring the wreckage since the $60 million yacht sank off the coast of Sicily early on Monday morning.

The search teams were yesterday joined by a remote-controlled submersible robot and divers who worked on the 2012 Costa Concordia disaster.

Those unaccounted for include Morgan Stanley International chairman Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy and Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda.

Investigators have questioned the survivors, including captain James Cutfield, 51, who was interrogated for two hours.

A friend of Dr Lynch said the disaster after the tycoon’s acquittal on US fraud charges was a “Shakespearean sort of tragedy”.

Yesterday’s development came as Dr Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, who was among 15 rescued from the sinking, had been anxiously waiting for news of her husband and daughter.

Hannah, 18, who had just secured a place to read English literature at Oxford, had joined her parents on the Bayesian to celebrate her father’s acquittal on the fraud charges.

The tech tycoon, once dubbed the “British Bill Gates”, made his fortune after setting up his software company Autonomy in 1996.

The father-of-two had recently returned to his Loudham Hall estate near Woodbridge, Suffolk, after spending almost a year on house arrest in the US, accused of artificially inflating the price of his firm when selling it to Hewlett-Packard for nearly $17.5 billion in 2011. He was acquitted by a jury in June.

But the celebrations were hit by tragedy when the 183ft yacht sank within minutes after being swamped by a freak tornado – known as a waterspout – half a mile off Porticello at 5am on Monday, local time.

In sombre scenes yesterday, search teams returned to the port several times to bring the dead to shore.

Each time, the emergency services formed a guard of honour, shielding the bodies from public view as they were placed in ambulances.

The first bodies were those of a “heavily built man” and a woman, sources said.

Hundreds of residents and tourists gathered to pay their respects, with some bowing their heads as church bells were heard ringing out over the village near Palermo.

Divers were said to have made the grim discovery after spotting bodies inside the yacht’s luxury cabins on its hard-to-reach lower deck, with one lodged behind two mattresses.

The complex operation to retrieve the dead had to be carried out in stages, with the divers stopping at a depth of 65ft to decompress before resurfacing, according to local media.

Confirming the recovery of four bodies, Sicily civil protection director-general Salvo Cocina told the Daily Telegraph: “On behalf of myself and my colleagues, I would like to express my deepest sympathy to the families of the victims.”

He later said that efforts to bring a fifth body to shore and to locate the last missing passenger would restart today.

The development takes the official death toll to six after the body of the yacht’s Canadian chef, Recaldo Thomas, was discovered close to the wreck on Monday.

The Italian coastguard had refused to rule out the possibility that those missing may still be alive, with experts speculating air pockets could have formed as the yacht sank.

But rescue efforts were said to have been hindered because the massive vessel was still intact, filled with debris, and lay on the sea bed at a depth of more than 150ft.

A breakthrough came when the 20 expert divers who had already spent two days tirelessly searching were joined by the team who worked on the 2012 Costa Concordia disaster.

Their arrival meant the searchers were able to extend the dive period up to 20 minutes at a time, thanks to special mixtures contained in their tanks.

Previously, the depth of the wreck meant trained divers could stay underwater for only a maximum of 12 minutes, two of which are needed to go up and down.

The divers, in groups of three, had been searching the hull yesterday after tearing out a one-inch-thick window, on the side opposite the six luxury guest cabins.

The search was also assisted by a remote-controlled vehicle capable of operating on the seabed up to a depth of 1,000ft.

The robot can record videos and take detailed images that will be examined by investigators.

Among those celebrating with Dr Lynch was Mr Morvillo, who represented the tycoon in his trial, and business veteran Mr Bloomer, who was a defence witness.

Italian media last night reported that the bodies of both men were among those brought to shore.

Dr Lynch’s close friend Brent Hoberman, the former chief executive of lastminute.com, described the disaster as a “Shakespearean sort of tragedy”.

“Somebody who spent 12 years defending their name, they just clear their name, they are going on a trip with the team who helped them do that to celebrate and then a sort of one-in-a-million disaster hits their boat,” he said.

Former Cabinet minister Lord Deben, a Conservative peer and longtime friend of Dr Lynch, told Times Radio that the tycoon came back to the UK to “start again” after winning his fraud case.

“Gratitude is a typical word to use of him ... the people he brought on board are clearly the people who made his triumph possible,” he added.

Also among those celebrating on board was a senior partner in his firm Involve Capital, Charlotte Golunski, who saved her one-year-old daughter, Sofia, by clinging to her in the raging waves.

The 35-year-old Briton and her baby were discharged after being treated in hospital, as was Sofia’s father, James Emslie.

Dr Lynch’s Mediterranean party was said to have attracted so many guests and well-wishers that they had to take turns staying on the Bayesian.

Video taken from other boats showed the celebrations taking place in the days before tragedy struck.

An investigation has been launched by the authorities, with one expert revealing that an early focus would be whether the yacht’s crew had closed access hatches on the boat before the storm.

Prosecutors are already questioning witnesses and survivors, including the captain, Mr Cutfield, 51, from New Zealand.

CCTV footage of the tragedy unfolding shows the stunning boat with its 246ft mast – one of the tallest in the world – disappear within seconds as a violent storm clouds the view.

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