Sicily Yacht Sinking: Identities Revealed of People Missing After Violent Storm
Additional details are emerging about the tragedy in Sicily.
After a super yacht was sunk by a storm while anchored off the Italian island August 19, authorities have confirmed the identities of the six still-missing passengers.
British tech mogul Mike Lynch and his daughter, Morgan Stanley International Chairman Jonathan Bloomer and his wife, as well as Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife remain missing, Director of Sicily’s Civil Protection Agency Salvatore Cocina told NBC News.
While Cocina did not share the names of Lynch’s daughter, nor Morvillo and Bloomers’ spouses, the latter two have been identified as Judy Bloomer and Neda Morvillo by their husband’s employers.
Cocina previously confirmed Lynch’s wife Angela Bacares had been rescued. Their 18-year-old daughter Hannah remains among the missing passengers, per NBC News.
While the six passengers are still missing, the body of the ship’s cook, identified by Antiguan News Room as Antiguan citizen Ricardo Thomas, was previously retrieved from the water.
readSicily Yacht Survivor Details "End of the World" Experience While Saving Her Baby Girl in Freak Storm
Lynch had been cleared of fraud charges related to Hewlett Packard's $11 billion takeover of his company Autonomy Corp, according to the Associated Press, earlier this summer. The boat trip appeared to be a kind of acquittal celebration, as Morvillo was one of his U.S. lawyers and Bloomer testified in his defense.
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In total, a crew of 10 people and 12 passengers had been aboard Lynch’s yacht when it was struck by a sudden storm, including a type of waterborne tornado called a waterspout which ultimately sunk the vessel. It is believed that the bodies of the remaining missing are in the ship’s hull, which is currently more than 150 feet underwater.
Among those onboard, 15 were rescued by a nearby boat before coast guard vessels brought them to shore. According to NBC News, eight of the rescued were moved to a hospital while the remaining seven were brought to a hotel.
On August 20, NBC News reported rescue teams and divers had been searching the area for the remaining passengers after a previously unsuccessful attempt the day before.
Italy’s national fire department confirmed, per the outlet, that its divers had been able to get inside the wreckage in the initial attempt, however obstructions and narrow access gates made navigating the vessel challenging.
Divers worked in 12-minute shifts underwater due to the depth of the wreckage, while surface searches consisted of a helicopter and a fire brigade boat, the department added.
Meanwhile, one of the surviving passengers Charlotte Golunski has recounted her terrifying experience, explaining that she and her partner James Emsley as well as her 12-month-old daughter Sophie survived because they were on the yacht’s deck as it started to sink.
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The group of three were thrown from the deck, she told local outlet La Repubblica, per the BBC, where she then held her baby "afloat with all my strength, my arms stretched upwards to keep her from drowning.”
“It was all dark,” Golunski recounted. “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.”
(NBC News and E! News are both part of NBCUniversal.)