The wife of tech mogul Mike Lynch didn’t want to leave the scene of his sunken yacht without her husband and their teenage daughter before they were both later confirmed dead, according to a captain who helped rescue survivors during the Sicily storm.
Angela Bacares was so frantic to find her family she even hesitated getting medical help after getting out of the Bayesian during a ferocious storm that sank it, Karsten Borner told People Magazine.
“[Bacares] didn’t want to leave because her husband and her daughter were still down,” said Borner, who helped rescue the survivors after witnessing the tragedy from his own boat, the Sir Robert Baden Powell.
“She was picked up a little bit later because I asked the coast guard to take her as I thought she needed medical help. Then, over the course of the next two, three hours — [I] don’t know exactly how much later — the coast guards came and the rest of the Bayesian people went away with them.”
Lynche’s wife was among 15 people who escaped the 184-foot luxury yacht on Aug. 19 after a sudden squall of tornado-like waterspouts pummeled the superyacht, causing it to sink. Others saved included a mom and her 1-year-old baby.
It would take days to recover the bodies of the seven who died, including tech tycoon Lynch 59, and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah.
Borner said he noticed the weather rapidly deteriorating around 3 a.m. when his ship and the Bayesian were the only two out anchored off the coast of Porticello in Sicily.
“When things calmed down and the storm abated somewhat and the wind dropped a bit, we were looking around and couldn’t see the Bayesian anymore,” Borner told the magazine.
“We checked the AIS [automatic identification system], and we couldn’t see the Bayesian anymore. Two passengers and two crew members saw what looked like a whale in the water and realized afterwards it was the capsized boat,” he said.
“A moment later, I saw a triangle in the sea in a split second that the sky was lit up by lightning, and that must have been the bow of the ship while sinking over the stern.”
After witnessing the Bayesian sink, Borner and his first mate got onto a smaller boat, called a tender, and headed to where the Bayesian had been.
“We first found things floating in the water like cushions and chairs and stuff,” Borner said. “And then we saw a flickering light. This was a life raft with a light on the top. And they also waved at us with a torch.”
“So we went there, and then we found the crew and part of the passengers — 15 people in a 12-person raft, including a little baby,” he added.
What to know after a tornado sank the yacht Bayesian off the coast of Sicily:
- A superyacht capsized off the coast of Sicily after a tornado hit the area early Monday, killing seven passengers.
- British tech tycoon Mike Lynch was identified as one of the bodies pulled from the wreckage. His teenage daughter, Hannah, was the final one to be recovered.
- Lynch — known as “Britain’s Bill Gates” — had invited guests from Clifford Chance, a legal firm that represented him, and Invoke Capital, his own company, on the voyage, according to the Telegraph.
- Security camera footage shot from 650 feet from where the Bayesian sank Monday shows it disappearing.
- A rare and unexpected “black swan” weather event may have led to the Bayesian’s speedy demise, maritime experts say.
Borner and his crew took in the survivors, providing first aid, dry clothes and blankets to those in the raft.
The survivors also told Borner there were other passengers still missing, which led the tender to be sent out again.
“They looked around at sea and obviously didn’t find anything,” Borner said.
The other victims included the ship’s chef, Ricardo Thomas, New York City attorney Christopher Morvillo and his wife, Neda; and Morgan Stanley executive Jonathan Bloomer and his wife, Judy.
The exact cause of the yacht’s sinking remains unknown, however, Italian prosecutors are probing whether the actions of Captain James Cutfield, 51, may have led to tragedy.
Under maritime law, a ship’s captain assumes full responsibility for safety of the vessel, its crew, and all passengers.
