The British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch has been confirmed dead by search and rescue authorities after his yacht sank off the coast of Sicily during a violent storm. Lynch, 59, was among six people missing after the British-flagged 56-metre sailing boat Bayesian capsized at about 5am local time on Monday off the coast of Palermo when the area was hit by a tornado.
Lynch’s body was retrieved from the wreck on Thursday, according to Massimo Mariani, an interior ministry official. His wife, Angela Bacares, was rescued on Monday, while his 18-year-old daughter, Hannah, remains unaccounted for. The bodies of four other people were recovered from the wreck on Wednesday, including that of the yacht’s chef, Recaldo Thomas, found on Monday.
Lynch, once described as Britain’s Bill Gates, founded Autonomy Corporation and spent much of the last decade defending himself against allegations of fraud related to the sale of Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard for $11bn. He was acquitted by a jury in San Francisco in June after more than a year under house arrest. The boat trip was a celebration of being cleared of the charges.
Tributes have been paid by Lord Browne, chair of the Francis Crick Institute, who described Lynch as a catalyst for deep tech entrepreneurs in the UK. David Tabizel, Lynch’s co-founder at Autonomy, said the world had lost a genius. The Royal Academy of Engineering expressed deep sadness, and BBC director general Tim Davie noted Lynch’s contribution to the BBC board from 2007 to 2012.
Questions remain about why the yacht sank within minutes. Giovanni Costantino, head of the Italian Sea Group which includes the builder Perini Navi, insisted the boat was safe and suggested a series of human errors may have been responsible.
