Update on the sinking of the Perini Bayesian in Sicily

Jonathan Bloomer, chairman of the renowned U.S. investment bank Morgan Stanley International, is another high-profile name among the missing after the sinking of the Bayesian, the 56-meter Perini Navi yacht that went down yesterday morning before dawn due to an exceptional weather event, likely a tornado, which struck the anchored superyacht just a few hundred meters from Porticello, near Palermo.

According to reports from the Financial Times, Bloomer was also the head of the insurance group Hiscox and had testified as a defense witness in the long legal case involving entrepreneur Mike Lynch, who had been under scrutiny for 12 years. The case revolved around alleged fraud related to the financial data of Autonomy, the company sold to the giant Hewlett-Packard in 2011 for over $11 billion. Lynch was fully acquitted only last June, and the vacation in Sicily, which ended in tragedy, seems to have been organized to celebrate this significant milestone. Among those involved in the legal battle and subsequent sailing trip in southern Italy were also Christopher Morvillo, Lynch's lawyer from the London law firm Clifford Chance, and his wife Nada. The couple is also among the six missing, along with Lynch's 18-year-old daughter, Hanna.

The search for the six missing individuals, who are now believed to be trapped inside the Bayesian, continues relentlessly. The rescue efforts involve fire department diving specialists and personnel and equipment from the Coast Guard, including helicopters that scoured a long stretch of the Palermo coast throughout yesterday. The 50-meter depth of the seabed where the yacht is resting makes the divers' work challenging. It takes four minutes to descend from the surface to the hull, and they can only stay underwater for eight minutes before having to resurface for safe decompression stops. Additionally, due to safety concerns, each diving team can only perform one dive every 24 hours.

Luca Cari, the emergency communication officer for the National Fire Brigade Command, told Ansa: "It's a mini Concordia; the spaces inside the yacht are extremely tight, and if an obstacle is encountered, it's very difficult to advance, just as it's very difficult to find alternative routes." So far, divers have only been able to inspect the command deck, "which is full of electrical cables," and they have not found anyone in that area.

"From the outside, it is impossible to see anything inside the yacht, so at the moment no bodies have been located," Cari added. "After entering through a staircase into the salon, the firefighters are now trying to find the best point to enter and work safely. We have identified a glass window that we could use to enter. But it is locked from the inside and is 3 centimeters thick, so we need to remove it before we can make further progress inside."

Investigations are ongoing, coordinated by the Termini Imerese Prosecutor's Office, which has opened an investigation and will also involve four specialists from the UK's Marine Accident Investigation Branch, sent from London to conduct a "preliminary assessment" to better understand the dynamics of the incident.

A formal statement from Camper & Nicholsons, the company responsible for managing the Perini Navi Bayesian, confirmed that "the sinking occurred at 4:30 AM due to bad weather." The only confirmed fatality, whose body has been recovered, is a crew member, the onboard chef, Ricardo Thomas.

The Bayesian rests at a depth of about 50 meters, not far from the coast where it had been moored since Sunday afternoon, and does not appear to have any obvious damage that could explain its sinking.

According to information gathered by the Coast Guard and testimonies from Karsten Borner, the captain of the Sir Robert Baden Powell—a Dutch-flagged schooner with a steel hull that was anchored near the Bayesian during the storm—the Perini initially listed to one side and then sank within minutes.

Karsten Borner stated that he became alarmed and immediately provided assistance after seeing a distress flare launched from the Bayesian, which was evidently in trouble. However, by the time he approached with his tender to offer help, the yacht had already sunk.

More than a race against time, the search for the six missing individuals increasingly resembles a long and complex operation that may not be resolved quickly.

The 15 survivors, including Mike Lynch's wife, Angela Bacares, and the Bayesian's captain, have all been discharged from hospital facilities, although they remain in a state of shock.