Body of UK tech tycoon recovered but daughter still missing
Mike Lynch was a star of the British tech sector who attracted comparisons to Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Apple's Steve Jobs
- Published
The body of British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch has been recovered from the wreck of a yacht that sank off the coast of Sicily early on Monday, but searches are continuing for his missing daughter.
Six bodies have now been brought to shore after the sinking of the luxury yacht Bayesian, which foundered during a freak storm off the fishing village of Porticello, east of Palermo.
The one person who is still missing is Mr Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter, Hannah.
Of the 22 passengers and crew on board, 15 people survived the sinking, including a one-year-old child and Mr Lynch’s wife Angela Bacares.
Technology tycoon Mike Lynch, his daughter Hannah, Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer, his wife Judy Bloomer, Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo, his wife Neda Morvillo and the boat's chef Recaldo Thomas were lost when the Bayesian sank.
The bodies of all those missing have now been brought to shore with the exception of the final missing person, said by a source close to the family to be Hannah Lynch.
According to Italian law, officials are not allowed to share the names of the deceased until formal identification has taken place.
A decision on whether to raise the sunken yacht from the seabed is "not on the agenda", but will be in the future, a spokesman from the Italian Coastguard has said.
Vincenzo Zagarola told the PA news agency that the Italian Coastguard's working theory is still that the missing woman is somewhere inside the boat.
The wreck of the Bayesian is on the seabed at a depth of 50 metres (164ft).
Rescuers have described the operation as "complex", with divers limited to 12-minute underwater shifts.
Divers are working on the basis that the missing woman is still on the boat, officials said.
In a statement confirming their parents' deaths, the Bloomer family described the couple as "incredible people and an inspiration to many".
Mr Thomas was described by his friend, Gareth Williams, as being a "well-loved, kind human being with a calm spirit"
A spokesperson for Clifford Chance, the law firm where Chris Morvillo was a partner, said the team was "in shock and deeply saddened".
Mike Lynch had been a significant figure in the UK tech industry since helping to establish Cambridge Neurodynamics - a firm that specialised in using computer-based detection and recognition of fingerprints.
Five years later, he co-founded the British tech firm Autonomy. In 2011, Lynch made his riches by selling his company to US computing giant Hewlett-Packard (HP) for $11bn (£8.6bn).
But an intense legal battle following the high-profile acquisition loomed over Mr Lynch for over a decade. He was acquitted of multiple fraud charges in the US in June, over which he had been facing two decades in jail.
The yacht trip with family and friends has been described as a celebration of his acquittal.
Survivors have been recuperating at a hotel, where authorities are gathering witness statements.
Those who have paid tribute to Mr Lynch – dubbed “the Steve Jobs of Britain” – include BBC director general Tim Davie and fellow co-founder David Tabizel.
Mr Davie called Mr Lynch, who served as a non-executive director for the BBC in 2007, "wise, generous and insightful", adding that he had played a key role in the Corporation's digital transition.
The chief executive of legal AI company Luminance, Eleanor Lightbody said its founder Mike Lynch, was a "visionary unlike any other".
And fellow co-founder of Autonomy, David Tabizel, called Mr Lynch a "human supercomputer" and a great polymath with an inquisitive mind.
"To me he's the Steve Jobs of Britain. I miss him. I loved him."
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