A carabinieri vehicle parked near the harbor where search continues for missing passengers after a yacht capsized on August 19, 2024 off the coast of Palermo, Italy.
Vincenzo Pepe | Getty Images
The chairman of Morgan Stanley International, Jonathan Bloomer, is among those missing after a luxury yacht sank in a storm off the coast of Sicily.
Sicily’s civil protection agency told reporters late Monday that Bloomer and Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo were among the six people still missing. Clifford Chance declined to comment when contacted by CNBC.
Bloomer is chair of Morgan Stanley International, the London-based branch of the investment banking giant, a non-executive role he has held since 2016. He is also the chair of insurance firm Hiscox.
Aki Hussain, group chief executive officer of Hiscox, said Bloomer and his wife Judy were both among those missing.
“We are deeply shocked and saddened by this tragic event,” Hussain said in a statement. A Morgan Stanley spokesperson said: “Our thoughts are with all those affected, in particular the Bloomer family, as we all wait for further news from this terrible situation.”
British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah were also missing as search and rescue efforts resumed on Tuesday.
The 56-meter sailing boat “Bayesian” was hit by a violent storm around 4 a.m. local time on Monday, as it carried 10 crew members and 12 passengers on board. The anchored vessel capsized near the port of Porticello, with witnesses telling local media that the boat descended rapidly after its mast broke.
One person, the ship’s cook, was confirmed by the Italian coastguard to have died. Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, was among the 15 people who were rescued.
In a statement Tuesday, Italian emergency services said divers had accessed the inside of the wreck of the ship on Monday evening. Operations were complicated because of obstacles and narrow access points, they said, adding it was not possible to verify the presence of the missing individuals through cabin portholes.
Operations are now being planned to open access points to the cabins.
Divers operate in the sea to search for the missing, including British entrepreneur Mike Lynch, after a luxury yacht sank off Sicily, Italy August 19, 2024.
Vigili Del Fuoco Handout | Via Reuters
Renato Schifani, president of the region of Sicily, on Monday visited the children’s hospital in Palermo in Italy to see a British one-year-old girl and her parents who were all rescued from the ship.
“My thoughts go to all the people involved and their families, but today we are also here to testify that the solidarity and commitment of our health workers and Civil Protection volunteers are a precious resource for our community,” Schifani said in a statement, according to a Google translation.
Those on board are thought to have been employees and associates of Lynch, the 59-year-old founder of enterprise software firm Autonomy.
Lynch was embroiled in a protracted legal battle with Hewlett Packard after the U.S. tech giant accused him of inflating Autonomy’s value in an $11 billion sale. He was extradited from Britain to the U.S. last year to stand trial over the HP allegations. In June, Lynch was acquitted of fraud charges after a three-month trial. The boat trip was a celebration of Lynch’s acquittal, according to various media reports.
Stephen Chamberlain, Lynch’s co-defendant in the trial who was also acquitted, reportedly died after being hit by a car while jogging in Cambridgeshire on Saturday.
“Steve fought successfully to clear his good name at trial earlier this year, and his good name now lives on through his wonderful family,” his lawyer said in a statement to the BBC.
— CNBC’s Ryan Browne contributed to this story.