Mike Lynch and Jonathan Bloomer: Search continues as Italian coastguard ‘unsuccessful’ with early inspection

The Italian coastguard has started its second day of searching for survivors of a sunken superyacht off the coast of Sicily, including the tech media mogul Mike Lynch and Morgan Stanley boss Jonathan Bloomer.

Lynch, the former boss of software firm Autonomy, was one of 22 people on board the luxury yacht named Bayesian.

The vessel capsized at around 5am on Monday in a tornado off the coast of Palermo, the capital of the Italian island of Sicily. The Palermo Coastguard said yesterday afternoon that the Bayesian was around 50m underwater.

The BBC, which reported searches are due to resume later on Tuesday morning, said Morgan Stanley International Bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer and partner at magic circle law firm Clifford Chance Chris Morvillo were among those missing.

In May last year, Jonathan Bloomer, the current chair of Morgan Stanley International and law firm DWF, added the top boardroom chair at Hiscox to his portfolio next month. Bloomer was a partner at Arthur Anderson before joining the Prudential, initially as CFO in 1995 before leading the firm for five years as CEO from 2000.

Morvillo is a partner in the law firm’s New York office, and focused on white-collar government investigations. He served as co-counsel when defending Lynch successfully at a 12-week criminal trial in US Federal Court earlier this year. From 1999 to 2005, he also served as an assistant US Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

The Italian fire and rescue services and coast guard confirmed that 15 people were rescued after the incident. Among them was Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares.

Authorities said the body of a man was found this morning, later identified as the vessel’s cook.

On Monday evening it posted a video showing divers looking for survivors before renewing rescue attempts on Tuesday.

The search is set to continue today.

Italy’s fire brigade Vigili del Fuoco said on X that early inspections of the wreck were “unsuccessful” due to limited access to the bridge and furniture obstructing passages.

A spokesperson for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office told City A.M. on Monday: “We are providing consular support to a number of British nationals and their families following an incident in Sicily, and are in contact with the local authorities”.

Ayla Reynold, a senior associate at Clifford Chance’s London office survived the ordeal. Her father Lin Ronald confirmed to The Telegraph she had been invited aboard as thanks for assistance in Lynch’s recent court case.

“I have texted my daughter and she hasn’t given me any updates about missing personnel or saved personnel. She has only said that there are deaths and she and her partner are alive,” he said.

“Ayla is a lawyer who is part of the legal team that were invited to go sailing as a result of the success in the recent United States court case.”

One of the survivors, British tourist Charlotte Emsley, told Italian newspaper la Repubblica she held her one-year-old daughter, Sofia, to stop her from drowning.

She said: “I held her afloat with all my strength, my arms stretched upwards to keep her from drowning.

“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.”

Lynch, who founded software giant Autonomy in 1996, was made an OBE for services to enterprise in 2006.

In June, he was cleared in the US of conducting a massive fraud relating to an $11bn (£8.64bn) sale to US company Hewlett Packard (HP). However, HP did win a six-year civil fraud suit against Lynch back in 2022 after the English High Court ruled that he defrauded the firm by manipulating Autonomy’s accounts to inflate its valuation ahead of the takeover.

It was reported that Autonomy’s former vice president of finance Stephen Chamberlain, and a co-defendant on the US case, passed away on Saturday.

His lawyer Gary Lincenberg issued a statement: “Our dear client and friend Steve Chamberlain was fatally struck by a car on Saturday while out running.”

“He was a courageous man with unparalleled integrity. We deeply miss him. Steve fought successfully to clear his good name at trial earlier this year, and his good name now lives on through his wonderful family.”

Chamberlain, was also the former chief operating officer of UK-listed cybersecurity company Darktrace, from April 2016 to June 2023. He was on a career transition since leaving Darktrace.

A spokesperson for Darktrace said: “We are incredibly saddened to hear of the tragic death of Steve Chamberlain, Darktrace’s former chief operating officer and a substantial contributor to the team in its early years.”

“Steve was much loved by his colleagues and leaves many friends at Darktrace. We extend our deepest condolences to his wife, Karen, and the rest of his family who are very much in our thoughts at this challenging time.”