The bodies of Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah have been recovered from the tech tycoon's superyacht after it sunk off the coast of Sicily, the Chief of Civil Protection confirmed.
The 184ft-yacht had sunk following a violent spell of weather in the early hours of Monday morning - and while 15 survivors had escaped the vessel, its sinking had sparked a large-scale search effort.
Earlier this afternoon, a source close to the matter said divers had found the bodies of two of the six passengers who were missing. These bodies have since been brought to shore.
Since then, an additional two bodies have been recovered from the wreck.
Bodies of Mike Lynch and daughter Hannah recovered from sunken superyachtGetty/Perini Navi Press Office/ReutersThe body of Ricardo Thomas, the chef onboard, was discovered within the 50-metre-deep wreck on Monday.
The Chief of Civil Protection also confirmed that the two recently discovered bodies are about to be recovered by divers.
This means two passengers, onboard the luxury yacht owned by Lynch when it sank on Monday, remain missing.
The yacht, named the Bayesian, belonged to the British billionaire, who was travelling with his family and business partners ahead of the tragedy. The boat had been designed to accommodate up to 12 guests in six suites, along with ten crew members.
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Mike Lynch was holding a celebration for his recent acquittal ReutersThe boat was carrying passengers as part of a planned celebration following Lynch’s recent personal success relating to his company.
He was cleared of all charges by a US jury in the high-profile fraud case related to the sale of his software company Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard (HP) for £8.6billion in 2011.
The guests were from Clifford Chance, the legal firm, and Invoke Capital, his own company, as well as his own family.
Fifteen of the 22 people aboard, which was made up of 12 guests and 10 crew, survived.
Eerie CCTV footage shows how the superyacht slipped out of sight in a matter of secondsReuters
Earlier this afternoon, a source close to the matter said divers had found the bodies of four of the six passengers who were missing
Reuters
Still unaccounted for are Christopher Morvillo, one of Lynch’s lawyers, and his wife Neda. Jonathan Bloomer, a chairman at Morgan Stanley International and his wife Judy are also missing.
Hannah. who was due to study English at the University of Oxford, is understood to be the youngest of Lynch’s two daughters.
She was a former pupil of £25,000-a-year Latymer Upper School in Hammersmith - a private school with famous alumni including Alan Rickman, Hugh Grant, and Heston Blumenthal.
Friends described the 18-year-old as a “supernova” who was gentle and kind and a natural intellectual, The Times reported.
