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Bodies recovered from sunken yacht identified by Italian authorities

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British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch has been confirmed as among the dead after a superyacht sank off Sicily this week.

The Italian coastguard also said the bodies of Morgan Stanley chairman Jonathan Bloomer and US lawyer Christopher Morvillo had been recovered, along with those of their wives, Judy Bloomer and Neda Morvillo.

Mr Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter Hannah remains missing.

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Recaldo Thomas, the yacht’s chef, also died and was found in the hours after Monday’s early morning sinking.

It comes as another body was brought up from the wreck on Thursday morning, after divers recovered four yesterday.

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The body of chef Recaldo Thomas was recovered in the hours after the sinking


Six people were originally missing and 15 rescued after the UK-flagged Bayesian capsized amid a storm.

Mr Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, is among the survivors.

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Jonathan Bloomer was chairman of Morgan Stanley International and Hiscox. Pic: Hiscox/Linkedin

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Christopher Morvillo was a lawyer who worked on Mr Lynch’s fraud case. Pic: Clifford Chance

The ship has been resting at a depth of 50m (163ft) off Porticello near Palermo, where it had been anchored.

Mr Lynch, 59, known as the “British Bill Gates“, had been in the headlines in recent months over a high-profile fraud case in the US.

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Divers have recovered five bodies from the wreck in the last 24 hours. Pic: Reuters


In June, he was cleared of all charges by a jury related to the sale of his software company Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard in 2011.

The search will now focus on finding the one person still missing, Hannah Lynch

Divers have described how difficult it is to navigate the wreck – some 50m down – due to a mass of debris, narrow spaces and roughly 10 minutes of useable dive time.

An underwater drone with lights has been brought in to help.

The boss of the company that built the 56-metre Bayesian has told Sky News superyachts of that type are “unsinkable”.

Giovanni Costantino, CEO of The Italian Sea Group, said there were no flaws with the design and construction.

“This incident sounds like an unbelievable story, both technically and as a fact,” he said, adding their structure and keel made them “unsinkable bodies”.

Meanwhile, the brother of the man in charge of the yacht has said he is a “very good sailor” and “well respected”.

New Zealander James Cutfield, 51, was captain of the Bayesian and previously told Italian media “we didn’t see it coming” – referring to the extreme weather.

His brother, Mark, said he was a “well respected” mariner who had captained luxury yachts for eight years and previously worked for a Turkish billionaire.

He told the New Zealand Herald he had been involved in building yachts for 30 years in the Mediterranean, as well as racing dinghies in his youth.

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