British tech tycoon Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter are among six tourists missing after a luxury yacht sank in a tornado off the coast of Italy.
One person has been confirmed dead, believed to be the vessel’s Canadian chef, while four of the missing passengers are British and two are American, according to Italian newspaper la Repubblica.
Survivors have been seen at the Di Cristina hospital in Palermo, while the Italian Coastguard said it believes Mr Lynch and the five others missing may still be inside the sunken yacht.
The Palermo Port Authority told Canadian broadcaster CBC News that officials recovered the body of Ricardo Thomas, a Canadian-born man who had been living in Antigua.
Salvo Cocina of Sicily’s civil protection agency said: “They were in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Image: Survivors Charlotte Golunski, James Emsley and their one-year-old daughter Sophie Emsley, leave the Di Cristina hospital in Palermo. Pic: Reuters
Jonathan Bloomer, chairman of Morgan Stanley International, and Chris Morvillo, a lawyer at major firm Clifford Chance, and both of their wives are also among the missing.
A spokesperson for Morgan Stanley said they were “deeply shocked and saddened” and added: “Our thoughts are with all those affected, in particular the Bloomer family, as we all wait for further news from this terrible situation.”
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UK insurer Hiscox, which Mr Bloomer also chaired, confirmed his wife was also among the missing on Tuesday.
A Clifford Chance spokesperson added its priority was “providing support to the family as well as our colleague Ayla Ronald, who together with her partner, thankfully survived the incident”.
Image: Christopher Morvillo. Pic: Clifford Chance handout
Mr Lynch‘s daughter, Hannah Lynch, also remains unaccounted for but his wife, Angela Bacares, was rescued along with 14 others – including a mother who held her one-year-old baby above the waves.
Charlotte Golunski, 35, told la Repubblica she lost her baby Sofia for “two seconds”, adding: “I held her afloat with all my strength, my arms stretched upwards to keep her from drowning.
“It was all dark. In the water I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I screamed for help but all I could hear around me was the screams of others.”
Image: Charlotte Golunski
The baby’s father James Emsley also survived, Salvo Cocina of Sicily’s civil protection agency said. According to her LinkedIn profile, Ms Golunski is a partner at Mr Lynch’s firm, called Invoke Capital.
Mr Lynch, described as the British Bill Gates, was cleared earlier this year of conducting a massive fraud over the sale of software company Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard (HP) in 2011.
Image: Pic: Perini Navi
Eyewitness: Every hour that passes, this rescue mission moves closer to a recovery
In Sicily, they’re searching for survivors.
Fifty meters beneath these now calm waters are the remains of a superyacht, which was carrying 22 people when it was hit by extreme weather.
Relentless rain and wind battered the north coast of Sicily in the early hours of Monday, causing widespread damage on the land, and proving fatal at sea.
Fisherman Fabio was the first to the wreckage and told Sky News: “There were two sailboats half a mile away from the harbour with their anchors at sea.
“After 10 minutes, we saw a flare in the sky. We waited about 10 minutes to see the intensity of the tornado and went out to sea.
“We were first to give rescue, but we found no one at sea. We only found cushions and the remains of the boat.”
The weather was so bad overnight that locals described it as being like nothing they’d ever seen before.
Waterspouts – essentially like tornados on the water – tore into the coastline.
The yacht had been anchored. The sailing mast lights had been twinkling in the night sky. By morning, they were gone.
Authorities haven’t given up on those still lost at sea: Divers have already found one body near the wreckage, and they know with every hour that passes, this rescue mission moves closer to becoming a recovery.
There is also some speculation about the design of the ship, and perhaps what happened to the 75m mast, which was iconic on this particular yacht.
It was said to be the tallest aluminium mast in the world, and people here last night were talking about how they could see it glistening by night.
It’s thought that mast may have got caught up in this rotating column of cloud, these waterspouts that we’ve been talking about, and that may have caused it to break and may have caused the boat to then go on and capsize.
Investigators and inspectors from the UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch are making their way to Palermo today to assist.
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His co-defendant in that trial, Stephen Chamberlain, was separately confirmed dead after he was hit by a car on Saturday.
Gary Lincenberg, his lawyer, said in a statement: “Our dear client and friend Steve Chamberlain was fatally struck by a car on Saturday while out running.
“He was a courageous man with unparalleled integrity. We deeply miss him.
“Steve fought successfully to clear his good name at trial earlier this year, and his good name now lives on through his wonderful family.”
Cambridgeshire Police said in a statement on Monday evening that the driver of the car, a 49-year-old woman from Haddenham, remained at the scene and is assisting with enquiries.
Image: Stephen Chamberlain
Pic: Cambridgeshire Police/PA
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Emergency responder Luca Cari told the news outlet the divers “can stay underwater for a maximum of 12 minutes, two of which are needed to go up and down,” meaning “the real time to be able to carry out the search is 10 minutes per dive”.
He added divers had identified a glass window on the Bayesian from which they could enter but said: “The spaces inside the sailing ship are very small and if you encounter an obstacle it is very complicated to move forward, just as it is very difficult to find alternative routes.”
The UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch said four of its inspectors are being deployed to Palermo for a preliminary assessment, while cave divers have joined the ongoing search.
The hull of the ship is resting at a depth of 50 metres.
A spokesman for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said: “We are in contact with the local authorities following an incident in Sicily, and stand ready to provide consular support to British nationals affected.”
Donald Trump has revealed that media mogul Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan could be part of a deal in which TikTok in the United States will come under American control.
The US president also namedropped Michael Dell, the founder and CEO of Dell Technologies, as a possible participant in the deal during an interview with Fox News, which is owned by the Murdochs.
“I think they’re going to be in the group. A couple of others. Really great people, very prominent people,” Mr Trump said. “And they’re also American patriots, you know, they love this country. I think they’re going to do a really good job.”
Mr Trump said that Larry Ellison, founder and CEO of software firm Oracle, was part of the same group. His involvement in the potential TikTok deal had previously been revealed.
Image: President Donald Trump speaking to reporters outside the White House. Pic: AP/Mark Schiefelbein
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Saturday that Oracle would be responsible for the app’s data and security, with Americans set to control six of the seven seats for a planned TikTok board.
This comes after Mr Trump said he and China’s Xi Jinping held a “very productive call” on Friday, discussing the final approval for the TikTok deal, much of which is still unknown.
Once confirmed, the deal should stop TikTok from being banned in the US after lawmakers decided it posed a security risk to citizens’ data.
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Officials warned that the algorithm TikTok uses is vulnerable to manipulation by Chinese authorities, who can use it to push specific content on the social media platform in a way that is difficult to detect.
Congress had ordered the app shut down for American users by January 2025 if its Chinese owner ByteDance didn’t sell its assets in the country – but the ban has been delayed four times by President Trump.
Mr Trump said on Sunday that he might be “a little prejudiced” about TikTok, after telling reporters on Friday: “I wasn’t a fan of TikTok and then I got to use it and then I became a fan and it helped me win an election in a landslide.”
After the call with Mr Xi, Mr Trump said in a Truth Social post: “We made progress on many very important issues, including Trade, Fentanyl, the need to bring the War between Russia and Ukraine to an end, and the approval of the TikTok Deal.”
Mr Trump later told reporters at the White House that Xi had approved the deal, but said it still needed to be signed.
Representatives for the Murdochs, Mr Dell and Mr Ellison have not yet commented on a potential TikTok deal.
Gatwick’s second runway has been given the go-ahead by the government.
The northern runway already exists parallel to Gatwick‘s main one, but cannot be used at the same time, as it is too close.
It is currently limited to being a taxiway and is only used for take-offs and landings if the main one has to shut.
The £2.2bn expansion project will see it move 12 metres north so both can operate simultaneously, facilitating 100,000 extra flights a year, 14,000 jobs, and £1bn a year for the economy.
It would also mean the airport could process 75 million passengers a year by the late 2030s.
Gatwick is already the second busiest airport in the UK, and the busiest single runway airport in Europe.
No public money is being used for the expansion plan, which airport bosses say could see the new runway operational by 2029.
The expansion was initially rejected by the Planning Inspectorate over concerns about its provisions for noise prevention and public transport connections.
Campaigners also argued the additional air traffic will be catastrophic for the environment and the local community.
A revised plan was published by the planning authority earlier this year, which it said could be approved by the government if all conditions were met.
The government says it is now satisfied this is the case, with additions made including Gatwick being able to set its own target for passengers who travel to the airport by public transport – instead of a statutory one.
Nearby residents affected by noise will also be able to charge the airport for the cost of triple-glazed windows.
And people who live directly under the flight path who choose to sell their homes could have their stamp duty and estate agent fees paid for up to 1% of the purchase price.
CAGNE, an aviation and environmental group in Sussex, Surrey, and Kent, says it still has concerns about noise, housing provision, and wastewaster treatment.
The group says it will lodge a judicial review, which will be funded by local residents and environmental organisations.
‘Disaster for the climate crisis’
Green Party leader Zack Polanski criticised the second runway decision, posting on X: “Aviation expansion is a disaster for the climate crisis.
“Anyone who’s been paying any attention to this shambles of a Labour Govenrment (sic) knows they don’t care about people in poverty, don’t care about nature nor for the planet. Just big business & their own interests.”
Friends of the Earth claimed the economic case for the airport expansion has been “massively overstated”.
Head of campaigns Rosie Downes warned: “If we’re to meet our legally-binding climate targets, today’s decision also makes it much harder for the government to approve expansion at Heathrow.”
Shadow transport secretary Richard Holden welcomed the decision but said it “should have been made months ago”, claiming Labour have “dithered and delayed at every turn”.
“Now that Gatwick’s second runway has been approved, it’s crucial Labour ensures this infrastructure helps drive the economic growth our country needs,” he said.
A government source told Sky News the second runway is a “no-brainer for growth”.
“The transport secretary has cleared Gatwick expansion for take-off,” they said. “It is possible that planes could be taking off from a new full runway at Gatwick before the next general election.
“Any airport expansion must be delivered in line with our legally binding climate change commitments and meet strict environmental requirements.”