Mike Lynch confirmed dead after yacht sank off Sicily coast during storm

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, according to officials.

Lynch, 59, the founder of Autonomy Corporation , 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, Massimo Mariani, an interior ministry official, told Reuters. Agence France-Presse also reported that Lynch’s body had been recovered, citing a coastguard official.

His wife, Angela Bacares, was rescued on Monday, while his 18-year-old daughter, Hannah, is still unaccounted for.

Lynch’s daughter is still missing, Mariani said. He said she may be inside the wreck or could have been tossed into the sea as the boat sank.

The bodies of four people were recovered from the wreck on Wednesday. The body of the yacht’s chef, Recaldo Thomas, was found on Monday, shortly after the vessel sank.

Once described as Britain’s Bill Gates, Lynch spent much of the last decade in court defending his name against allegations of fraud related to the sale of Autonomy to the US tech company Hewlett-Packard for $11bn (£7bn).

He was acquitted by a jury in San Francisco in June after he had spent more than a year living in effect under house arrest. The boat trip was a celebration of Lynch being cleared of the charges.

Lord Browne, the chair of the Francis Crick Institute, was among the first to pay tribute to Lynch. In a post on X , he wrote: “Mike Lynch should be remembered as the person who catalysed a breed of deep tech entrepreneurs in the UK.

“His ideas and his personal vision were a powerful contribution to science and technology in both Britain and globally. I send my condolences to those close to him. We have lost a human being of great ability.”

Lynch was a member of the Create the Change fundraising board, set up by Cancer Research UK and which helped fund the building of the institute.

David Tabizel, Lynch’s co-founder at Autonomy, posted on X : “It looks like we’ve lost our dear Dr Mike Lynch. RIP. The world has lost a genius. His family have lost a giant of a man.”

The Royal Academy of Engineering, where Lynch was a fellow, said in a statement that it was deeply saddened by his death: “Mike became a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2008 and we have fond memories of the active role he played in the past, as a mentor, donor and former council member. He was also one of the inaugural members on the enterprise committee. Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this time.”

Earlier on Thursday, a senior official confirmed to the Guardian that divers had recovered a fifth body from the wreck. The head of Sicily’s civil protection agency, Salvatore Cocina, said the fifth body inside the yacht had been successfully recovered and transported to Porticello’s pier.

Italian media, quoting sources among the divers, said the victims retrieved on Wednesday were Chris Morvillo and his wife, Nada, as well as the executive chair of Morgan Stanley International, Jonathan Bloomer, and his wife, Judy.

The bodies recovered on Wednesday were taken to hospitals in the nearby city of Palermo. They have not been officially identified.

There were 22 people onboard when the yacht sank. Fifteen survived, including a one-year-old girl.