MIKE LYNCH: 'BRITAIN'S BILL GATES' MISSING AFTER LUXURY YACHT SINKS IN PALERMO TORNADO

British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch is reportedly missing following the sinking of a superyacht in Italy.

Mr Lynch, who is known for co-founding the Autonomy Corporation and founding Invoke Capital, is understood to be among those unaccounted for after the Bayesian capsized following a tornado at around 5am this morning off the coast of Palermo in Sicily.

There were 22 on board the boat, which is said to be owned by the family of Mr Lynch, with six missing and one person confirmed dead, while 15 others have been rescued.

Seven people were reported missing before the body of a man - believed to be a cook of Canadian origin and with Antiguan residency - was retrieved from the water. A search and rescue operation now combing the area where the ship sank to roughly 50 metres in a bid to locate the other six people.

Mr Lynch is widely reported to be among those missing while his wife Angela Bacares is among those rescued. The tech entrepreneur made a vast fortune in the IT industry, having co-founded Autonomy in 1996 and building it into a leading UK firm before it was acquired by computing giant Hewlett-Packard.

He sold the firm for an eyebrow-raising $11 billion (£8.6 billion) in 2011, netting himself £500 million and has been lauded as "Britain's Bill Gates" thanks to his business acumen. Mr Lynch was awarded an OBE for his services to enterprise in 2006 and was appointed to the science and technology council in 2011., while he was also elected as a fellow to the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2008 and the Royal Society in 2014.

In June Mr Lynch won an important legal battle where he was cleared of US fraud charges over the £8.6billion sale of his software firm to Hewlett-Packard. A jury in San Francisco found him not guilty on all counts. The stunning verdict came after he was accused of inflating the value of his company, Autonomy, ahead of its sale.

He said at the time: "I am elated with the verdict and grateful to the jury for their attention to the facts over the last ten weeks. My deepest thanks go to my legal team for their tireless work on my behalf. I am looking forward to returning to the UK and getting back to what I love most: my family and innovating in my field." A spokesperson for the tech mogul has not commented on reports that he has gone missing.

Officials, including coastguard personnel, firefighters and charity workers from the Red Cross have assisted in rescue efforts, with six of seven people initially reported missing in the wake of the disaster not yet located. Yacht managers said there were 12 passengers and 10 crewmembers aboard this morning when a sudden storm whipped up a tornado that took the boat by surprise.

Authorities have said that 15 people were able to escape via an inflatable life raft, one of them the mother of a one-year-old baby who has spoken to local reporters about the incident. Charlotte, the mum of baby Sophie, told Giornale di Sicilia that "many were screaming" after a tornado hit the vessel

She said: "For two seconds I lost my baby in the sea, then I immediately hugged her again amid the fury of the waves. I held her tightly, close to me, while the sea was stormy. Many were screaming. Luckily the lifeboat inflated and 11 of us managed to get on board."

The Italian fire service wrote at 10am local time on X: "#Palermo , shipwreck of vessel off the coast of Porticello, 15 people rescued, 7 reported missing: from dawn, divers from the #vigilidelfuoco engaged in the search. Wreck identified at 50 meters depth, speleo divers arriving."

It later stated 90 minutes later: "#Palermo , shipwreck of a vessel in Porticello: the lifeless body of a man was recovered by the #divers of the #vigilidelfuoco outside the wreck. The search operations continue with the coordination at sea of the @guardiacostiera."

Witnesses have said the vessel was still at anchor in front of the port of Porticello when the tornado struck and the storm broke the large sail mast which is believed to have led the boat to capsize. The 15 people were saved by the ship Sir Robert Baden Powell, which was anchored by the stricken vessel. Captain Karsten Borner of the Dutch ship said that it was able to hold its position in the sea using engines during the storm but then the saw the Bayesan had disappeared.

“We realized that the boat next to ours was no longer there. We saw a red signal flare coming from the area of the boat, so my first officer and I climbed into the tender and went to provide assistance: we recovered 15 survivors, including a little girl. After raising the alarm, the coast guard units also arrived. We heard screams, we continued to search the area but we did not find anyone other than the 15 survivors who had already been rescued."

A spokesman for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said: “We are in contact with the local authorities following an incident in Sicily, and stand ready to provide consular support to British nationals affected.”

2024-08-19T12:54:58Z dg43tfdfdgfd