Sicily: Morgan Stanley International chairman was on board the sunken sailing ship

Fifteen people were rescued from the sinking sailing vessel, while one worker, the ship’s cook Ricardo Thomas, died and his body was recovered, while six people are missing: four Britons and two Americans. Among them is British businessman Mike Lynch, 59, and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah. The businessman is the co-founder of the multinational IT company Autonomy, and the founder of Invoce Capital and the cybersecurity company Darktrac, and is known as the “Britain’s Bill Gates”.

The guests are all Leeds business employees and have won travel prizes. The search for the missing has started from above using some aircraft, while Messina Coast Guard divers and cave divers from the fire brigade of Rome, Sassari and Cagliari will head to the bottom at a depth of 50 metres, where Paisi is located.

Jonathan Plumer, the chairman of Morgan Stanley International, was reported missing Monday night from the sunken Albizia. Italian authorities confirmed his disappearance, according to The Times. Mr. Plumer is a close friend of Mike Lynch, the boat’s owner, who is also missing along with his 18-year-old daughter, Hannah. Chris Morvillo, a lawyer at Clifford Chance, is also missing, said Salvatore Cucina, Sicily’s civil protection chief.

Italian rescuers were likely there while recovering the ship’s cook who was found dead.

They were celebrating Mike Lynch’s acquittal.

Jonathan Plumer, chairman of Morgan Stanley International, was reported missing Monday evening from the sunken Baysman. Mr. Plumer is a close friend of Mike Lynch, the boat’s owner, who is also missing along with his 18-year-old daughter, Hannah.

Guests were celebrating the acquittal of British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch on board the luxury yacht Baysian when it sank off the coast of Italy. It was initially reported to be a “gift” trip for Lynch’s staff, but that has now been clarified.

Mr. Lynch had brought together guests from law firm Clifford Chance and his own firm, Envoque Capital, after he was acquitted of fraud charges last June in connection with the multibillion-dollar sale of Autonomy.

He was cleared of all charges related to inflating the value of the company, which he sold to US technology giant Hewlett Packard for £8.6bn in 2011.

Italian divers are diving to find any survivors.

Survivor’s story

Among those rescued were Charlotte Golonski and her husband James Emsley, who were on the boat with their one-year-old daughter Sophia when the storm began to rock the boat violently. “It was the end of the world, and my husband and I were struggling to get up,” she said.

When the yacht sank, the family jumped into the water. “For two seconds I lost my daughter in the sea and then I quickly hugged her amidst the violent waves.”
“I held her on the surface of the water with all my strength, stretching my arms up so she wouldn’t drown,” he said. “It was all dark. In the water, I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I was screaming for help, but all I could hear around me was the screams of others.” All three are in hospital.

“He told me that while they were sleeping, at some point the yacht capsized because of the hurricane and they were in the water,” an Italian doctor at the children’s hospital in Palermo, who treated the family, told local media. “Some of them managed to get into the lifeboat right away. Others obviously didn’t make it.”

Carsten Borner, the captain of a nearby boat, said his crew had taken some survivors into a lifeboat, including three who were seriously injured.

Fisherman Francesco Cefalu said he swam from the shore to the site after seeing a flare at around 4.30am, but by the time he arrived, the Bayesian had already sunk, with only items such as pillows and sticks floating in the water.

Sources: The Times, The Telegraph, Italian Coast Guard