Divers recover fifth body from sunken Bayesian superyacht as Mike Lynch & daughter Hannah feared to be among dead
A FIFTH body found on the sunken Bayesian superyacht has reportedly been recovered with one of the tourists still missing.
Four of the missing six from Monday’s tragic disaster were recovered from the wreck on Wednesday, with divers locating the fifth before calling off the search in the evening.
A team of divers recovered the fifth person from the boat this morning as day four of the rescue efforts resumed, the civil protection authority told Sky News.
Pictures showed rescuers lifting the body from a boat into Porticello Harbour at around 8.45am local time.
The sixth missing tourist’s whereabouts are still unknown.
Fifteen of the 22 onboard were rescued when the luxury yacht capsized and sank in a storm around 5am on Monday morning off the coast of Sicily.
The yacht chef – Recaldo Thomas – was later found dead with six declared missing including Brit billionaire tycoon Mike Lynch, 59, and his daughter Hannah, 18.
Two of those recovered yesterday were feared to be Mike and Hannah, Sicily’s civil protection chief Salvo Cocina told The Telegraph.
But according to Italian outlet Giornale Di Sicilia, the four bodies recovered yesterday were Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy and Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda.
A different Italian outlet, Corriere, claim that two of the bodies found yesterday were Mike with the other believed to be Hannah.
Italian authorities have yet to officially confirm the identities of any of the bodies.
Canadian-Antiguan yacht chef Recaldo was found in waters near the wreck soon after the disaster on Monday.
The other unaccounted for passengers include Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan and his wife Judy, and Clifford Chance lawyer Chris and his wife Neda.
Sicily civil protection director-general Salvo Cocina told The Telegraph after the bodies were found: “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.”
It comes as…
- The bodies of Mike Lynch & his daughter Hannah, 18, were feared to have been recovered from the sunken superyacht
- Another two bodies were found in the search for the missing passengers
- Lynch’s shell-shocked wife revealed how she was awoken by a ’tilt’ as the yacht sank
- The captain of the Bayesian broke his silence on the horror storm and was quizzed by cops for over two hours
- Experts believe the yacht’s ‘tallest mast in the world‘ may have contributed to the disaster after a freak ‘Black Swan’ weather event struck
- Pictures showed the tiny raft that saved up to 15 people
- Frantic text messages from the survivors revealed the chaos
The ultra-luxurious yacht plunged beneath waves in the early hours of Monday after being hammered by a rare “Black Swan” waterspout – a freak twister-like event.
Lynch’s wife – Angela Bacares, 57 – was one of those who managed to escape in a tiny life raft as the vessel capsized and was dragged down in a storm.
Italian officials have launched an investigation, as have the UK’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch, into how the superyacht sank.
According to witnesses, the 246ft tall mast was battered by a waterspout – a twister-like cloud of air formed by extreme storms – toppling the boat and causing it to capsize.
Maritime experts agreed the yacht may have been sunk by a freak “Black Swan” waterspout which would have appeared without warning.
Captain of the doomed yacht James Cutfield, 51, was grilled by cops for over two hours after divers discovered the boat’s keel was raised – a structural backbone of the boat which could have affected its stability during the storm.
Rescuers deployed an underwater drone robot to assist in the search mission on Wednesday with pictures showing divers operating it from a boat on the surface.
It can remain underwater for up to seven hours at a depth of 300m, recording helpful images and video.
Although the 184ft yacht is lying “practically intact” on its side at the bottom of the sea, rescuers have been struggling to get inside.
Some 164ft down, the rotating team of divers face a time crunch as they only have 10 minutes to search each time they go down.
Diver Marco Tilotta also said there was a “world of objects” including furniture and debris obstructing the narrow stairs in front of the cabins in the wreck.