Divers are reportedly racing to retrieve Mike Lynch’s personal hard drives, which are locked in a safe on the ocean floor.
The Italian newspaper la Repubblica reported that the tech billionaire, whose clients include MI5, the NSA and the Israeli secret service, does not trust confidential documents in the cloud and currently keeps two encrypted hard drives in a safe located 49 meters below sea level.
Investigators from Palermo said the personal belongings of the seven victims and 15 survivors have so far not been recovered and that surveillance on the sailing ship continues 24 hours a day. They say the only hard drives brought to the surface are the ship’s hard drives.
An investigation into the manslaughter is expected to continue after expert divers found video equipment that could explain how the ship sank.
Italian prosecutors to continue investigation after source says Reuters Navy divers recovered parts of the deck, computer equipment, video surveillance systems, hard drives and various other equipment.
The source added that the electronic devices were sent to special laboratories outside Sicily to check their condition and possibly recover data.
Key points
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Italian navy recovers video equipment
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Mike Lynch’s two encrypted hard drives were locked in a safe 49 metres under water – report
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Professor fears more deaths at the hands of ‘medics’ after Bayes tragedy
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Mike Lynch’s yacht is ‘unsinkable’, says boss of company that built the boat
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Seven fundamental unanswered questions about Bayes’s sinking
Darktrace to be taken over following Mike Lynch’s death
16:45 , Barney Davis
Darktrace shares are scheduled to cease public trading at the end of September after the company sets a timetable for completing its major private equity takeover.
Private equity group Thoma Bravo closed a deal to buy Darktrace for around $5.31bn (£4.3bn) in April.
Darktrace AI stops ongoing cyberattacks in seconds, including ransomware, email phishing, and threats to cloud environments.
Darktrace will leave the FTSE 100 on October 1, in one of the biggest private acquisitions for a London-listed company in recent years.
Poppy Gustafsson helped found the Cambridge-based company with Autonomy founder Mike Lynch in 2013.
Mr Lynch and his daughter Hannah were among the seven people who died when the Bayes superyacht sank off the coast of Sicily last month.
Bodies sent back to UK on special planes – report
15:44 , Barney Davis
The bodies of Mike Lynch, his 18-year-old daughter Hannah and other victims of the Bayes disaster were returned to their families after autopsies.
Italian media reported that the martyrs were sent back to their country on special planes and that private funerals were expected to be held in the coming days.
The British tech mogul’s boat sank in the early hours of the morning on August 19 while moored near Porticello harbour. It now lies 50 metres below the surface.
Those killed include Mr Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, who was due to start studying at Oxford University in September, as well as four family friends and colleagues.
Morgan Stanley Bank’s international chairman Jonathan Bloomer, his psychotherapist wife Judith, US lawyer Christopher Morvillo and his jewellery designer wife Neda also died in the sinking.
Among those killed was the yacht’s cook, Recaldo Thomas; his body was found floating near the wreckage.
Four victims found with carbon dioxide in their lungs
14:44 , Barney Davis
Tech billionaire Mike Lynch, his 18-year-old daughter Hannah and five others were killed when a Bayesian-style explosion resembling a small tornado struck the land.
Other victims of the August 19 tragedy were Chief Recaldo Thomas, Morgan Stanley International chairman Jonathan Bloomer, his wife Judy, and Clifford Chance attorney Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda.
According to Italian news agency La Republica, autopsy results, which take into account the possibility that they were conscious after the yacht sank, suggest that four of the victims died of asphyxiation due to air bubbles filled with carbon dioxide.
Fifteen people, including Lynch’s wife Angela Bacares, survived after being rescued by a nearby yacht.
Mike Lynch’s yacht is ‘unsinkable’, says boss of company that built the boat
12:44 , Barney Davis
Giovanni Costantino, CEO of the Italian Marine Group, said there were no flaws in the Bayesian’s design and construction and that it was “one of the safest boats in the world.”
Carrying 22 passengers and crew, the 56-metre superyacht Bayesian disappeared beneath the waves within minutes of a sudden hurricane while anchored off the port of Porticello, near Palermo.
“The ship sank because it took in water, how will the investigators say that?” Mr Costantino told the TG1 television news programme.
He suggested that the sinking was caused by a series of human errors.
The CEO said that if the crew had closed all doors and hatches, started the engine, raised the anchor, lowered the keel and turned the yacht into the wind, they would have suffered “zero damage”.
He added that it took 16 minutes for it to sink from the start of the wind.
Cartoisio said the tragedy would be even more painful if the sinking of the ship was the result of “behaviors that are not consistent with the responsibilities that everyone in the shipping industry must assume.”
Bodies of Mike Lynch and daughter Hannah returned to family after Bayesian superyacht sinks
11:44 , Barney Davis
The bodies of those who lost their lives when billionaire Mike Lynch’s Bayesian super yacht sank off the coast of Sicily were delivered to their families by private jet.
Italian publication Sicily Day It was reported that autopsies were completed at a hospital in Palermo and the bodies were handed over.
My colleague Tom Watling says:
Mike Lynch and daughter’s bodies repatriated to UK following Bayes tragedy
Captain describes tragic sinking
11:38 , Barney Davis
Captain James Cutfield had previously made a shocking statement, exercising his right to remain silent.
According to Correire, he told prosecutors: “Seaman Griffiths came to wake me up and told me there were 20 knots of wind.
“I looked at the instruments and sure enough, that was it. I went outside and told them to warn everyone because I didn’t like it.”
He said that the Bayesian leaned 45 degrees and stayed that way for a while, then suddenly fell to the right.
“We were thrown into the sea.”
Seaman Matthew Griffiths, 22, said: “We somehow climbed back onto the bridge and tried to form a human chain to rescue those who had managed to get to that space from the accommodation deck… They were struggling on the walls because the boat was lying in the water.
“The first person in the chain was the captain, reaching down. He helped everybody, the ladies, the mother with the little girl… But we were sinking and unfortunately some of them didn’t make it.”
Mr Griffiths joins Englishman Tim Parker-Eaton, 56, and New Zealand captain James Cutfield, 51, on the official list of those being investigated for shipwreck and multiple manslaughter.
Investigation does not mean imposing an accusation and is a procedural process.
Professor fears more deaths at the hands of ‘medics’ after Bayes tragedy
11:27 , Barney Davis
Professor Yoav Yair, Dean of the School of Sustainability at Reichman University in Israel, told the Mirror that Mediterranean hurricanes, also known as ‘medican’ storms, could lead to sinkings similar to those of Bayesian superyachts.
“The question is not if it (the Bayesian catastrophe) will happen again, but when and where,” he said.
“Over the last few years, we have seen a new phenomenon, medicanes. These are hurricane-like storms that pack a lot of energy and create flash floods, torrential rains, lightning, hail and strong sustained winds. The 2023 “Daniel” medicane devastated Libya, causing more than 30,000 deaths there.
“Sea surface temperature has increased globally and in the Mediterranean as well. This has loaded the atmosphere with increased water vapor flux. This means a higher potential for major storms.”
Seven fundamental unanswered questions about Bayes’s sinking
09:37 , Barney Davis
How the Bayesian ship, lying sideways 50 meters under the calm waters of the Mediterranean, sank in the typhoon off the Porticello port still remains a mystery.
The yacht, which will be examined by experts in the coming days, will be able to be brought to the surface with the help of remote-controlled underwater vehicles and cave divers.
Fundamental unanswered questions surrounding Bayes’ tragic collapse
Italian navy recovers video equipment
08:37 , Alexander Butler
Italian Navy divers have recovered video surveillance equipment from the wreckage of billionaire Mike Lynch’s Bayesian superyacht that could explain its sinking.
The British tech mogul’s boat sank in the early hours of the morning on August 19 while moored near Porticello harbour. It now lies 50 metres below the surface.
Those killed include Mr Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, who was due to start studying at Oxford University in September, as well as four family friends and colleagues.
Divers make discovery as they search for clues to how Mike Lynch’s superyacht sank