Tech Tycoon Mike Lynch Confirmed Dead After Body Recovered From Sunken Yacht

More details about the Sicily yacht tragedy have come to light.

Days after a superyacht sank off the coast of Palermo, Italy, during a violent storm, the body of British tech businessman Mike Lynch, 59, was recovered Aug. 22, NBC News confirmed.

Lynch’s daughter Hannah, 18, is the sixth and final missing person from the 184-foot sailboat—which sank Aug. 19—and rescuers are still searching for her. 

The Royal Academy of Engineering, where Lynch was a fellow since 2008, gave their condolences following the news of his death. “We have fond memories of the active role he played in the past, as a mentor, donor and former Council member,” the academy wrote on X Aug. 22. “Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this time.”

Lynch, nicknamed by the U.K. media as “Britain’s Bill Gates,” had been acquitted of fraud charges this summer related to Hewlett Packard's $11 billion takeover of his company Autonomy Corp, according to the outlet. The sailing vacation was a celebration after the case, as part of his defense team was also in attendance.

The others recovered from the wreckage were Lynch’s associates, many of whom were part of his defense during his fraud case, including Morgan Stanley International Chairman Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy Bloomer; Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda Morvillo, the Director of Sicily’s Civil Protection Agency Salvatore Cocina told NBC News Aug. 21.

Lynch’s wife Angela Bacares and the ship’s cook Recaldo Thomas were recovered shortly after the accident along with nine other crew members and two other passengers. Eight were brought to a hospital and the rest were sent to a hotel nearby. Thomas later died, according to the publication. Fifteen of the 22 people aboard survived.

One survivor, Charlotte Golunski, recalled the harrowing event and how she, her 1-year-old daughter Sophie and partner James Emsley survived.

Golunski said she and her family survived because they were on the yacht’s deck when it started to sink, she told Italian newspaper La Repubblica Aug. 20, per the BBC.

She explained that she and her family woke up to "thunder, lightning and waves that made our boat dance," and it felt like "the end of the world."

"For two seconds, I lost my daughter in the sea, then quickly hugged her amid the fury of the waves," she added. "It was all dark. In the water I couldn't keep my eyes open. I screamed for help but all I could hear around me was the screams of others."

A lifeboat inflated, she said, and 11 people, including her family, climbed in.  

Director of Sicily's Civil Protection Agency Salvatore Cocina shared that it was likely a waterborne tornado, known as a waterspout, that struck the area. He noted that the luxury boat was "in the wrong place at the wrong time."

(E! News and NBC News are part of the NBCUniversal family.)

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