Search continues for British tech magnate and 5 others after luxury superyacht sinks off Sicily

PORTICELLO, Sicily (AP) — British tech magnate Mike Lynch and five other people were missing after their luxury superyacht sank during a freak storm off Sicily early Monday, Italy’s civil protection and authorities said. Lynch’s wife and 14 other people survived.

Lynch, who was acquitted in June in a big U.S. fraud trial, was among six people who remain unaccounted for after their chartered sailboat sank off Porticello, near Palermo, sometime after 4 a.m. A tornado over the water known as a waterspout had struck the area overnight, said Salvo Cocina of Sicily’s civil protection agency.

One body was recovered, and police divers spent the day trying to reach the hull of the ship, which was resting at a depth of 50 meters (163 feet) off Porticello where it had been anchored, rescue authorities said. They returned to the site after 10 p.m. to see if it would be possible to search through the night, when weather conditions were expected to worsen, said Luca Cari, spokesman of the fire rescue service.

The ship had a crew of 10 people and 12 passengers, the Italian coast guard said. A sudden fierce storm had battered the area overnight, and a waterspout struck precisely where the 56-meter (184-foot) British-flagged Bayesian had been moored.

“They were in the wrong place at the wrong time,” said Cocina, noting that another big ship nearby, the Sir Robert Baden Powell, wasn't as badly damaged and helped rescue the 15 survivors — including Lynch's wife, Angela Bacares.

The Bayesian was notable for its single 75-meter (246-feet) mast — one of the world’s tallest made of aluminum and which was lit up at night, just hours before it sank. Online charter sites listed it for rent for up to 195,000 euros (about $215,000) a week.

One of the survivors, identified as Charlotte Golunski, said she momentarily lost hold of her 1-year-old daughter Sofia in the water, but then managed to hold her up over the waves until a lifeboat inflated and they were both pulled to safety, Italian news agency ANSA reported. The father, identified by ANSA as James Emslie, also survived, said Cocina.

Karsten Borner, the captain of the Sir Robert Baden Powell, said he had noticed the Bayesian nearby during the storm but after it calmed he saw a red flare and realized the ship had simply disappeared, ANSA and the Giornale di Sicilia newspaper reported. Borner said he and a crew member boarded their tender and found a lifeboat with 15 people, some of them injured, who they then took aboard and alerted the coast guard.

Eight of those rescued were hospitalized while the others were taken to a hotel. One body believed to be the cook was found near the wreck, but six others were unaccounted for and believed inside the hull, said Cari, the fire rescue spokesperson. The rescue operations, which were visible from shore, involved helicopters and rescue boats from the coast guard, fire rescue and civil protection service.

Fisherman Fabio Cefalù said he had seen a flare from shore at around 4:30 a.m. and immediately set out to the site but by the time he got there, the Bayesian had already sunk, with only cushions, wood and other items from the superyacht floating in the water.

“But for the rest, we didn’t find anyone,” he said from the port hours later. He said that he immediately alerted the coast guard and stayed on-site for three hours, but didn't find any survivors. “I think they are inside, all the missing people.”

He said he had been up early to check the weather to see if he could go fishing, and surmised that a sudden waterspout had struck the yacht.

“It could be that the mast broke, or the anchor at the prow pulled it, I don’t know,” he said.

Cocina said the crew and passengers hailed from a variety of countries: In addition to Britain and the United States, passengers and crew were from Antigua, France, Germany, Ireland, Myanmar, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Spain, he said.

The UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch is deploying a team of four inspectors to Italy to conduct a preliminary assessment. The Foreign Commonwealth and Development office said it was “providing consular support to a number of British nationals and their families.”

Dutch foreign ministry spokesperson Casper Soetekouw said the lone Dutch citizen on board, a man, had been rescued and was not in life-threatening condition.

Lynch, once hailed as Britain’s king of technology, was cleared in June of fraud and conspiracy charges related to Hewlett Packard’s $11 billion takeover of his company, Autonomy Corp.

The not guilty verdicts followed an 11-week criminal trial in San Francisco that delved into the history of HP’s 2011 acquisition of Autonomy, a business software firm founded by Lynch.

The fraud accusations represented a dramatic turn in the fortunes of an entrepreneur once described as the Bill Gates of Britain — a title he seemed to live up to when he netted an $800 million from the Autonomy sale.

The acquittal vindicated Lynch, who had vehemently denied wrong doing and portrayed HP as a technological train wreck.

“I’m looking forward to returning the UK and getting back to what I love most: my family and innovating in my field,” Lynch said in a statement released after the verdict.

The yacht, built in 2008 by the Italian firm Perini Navi, can accommodate 12 passengers in four double cabins, a triple and the master suite, plus crew accommodations, according to Charter World and Yacht Charters.

The vessel, which previously was named Salute when it flew under a Dutch flag, featured a sleek, minimalist interior of light wood with Japanese accents designed by the French designer Remi Tessier, according to descriptions and photos on the charter sites.

Winfield reported from Rome. AP writers Danica Kirka and Sylvia Hui contributed from London.

This story has been corrected to reflect that the fisherman's name is Fabio Cefalù, not Francesco Cefalu’.

Emergency services at the scene of the search for a missing boat, in Porticello Santa Flavia, Italy, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024. British tech giant Mike Lynch, his lawyer and four other people are among those missing after their luxury superyacht sank during a freak storm off Sicily, Italy’s civil protection and authorities said. Lynch’s wife and 14 other people survived. (Alberto Lo Bianco /LaPresse via AP)

Italian Firefighters scubadivers sails towards the area where the UK flag vessel Bayesan that was hit by a violent sudden storm, sunk early Monday, Aug. 19, 2024, while at anchor off the Sicilian village of Porticello near Palermo, in southern Italy. (AP Photo/Lucio Ganci)

Emergency services at the scene of the search for a missing boat, in Porticello Santa Flavia, Italy, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024. British tech giant Mike Lynch, his lawyer and four other people are among those missing after their luxury superyacht sank during a freak storm off Sicily, Italy’s civil protection and authorities said. Lynch’s wife and 14 other people survived. (Alberto Lo Bianco /LaPresse via AP)

Italian Firefighters scubadivers prepare to sail toward the area where the UK flag vessel Bayesan that was hit by a violent sudden storm, sunk early Monday, Aug. 19, 2024, while at anchor off the Sicilian village of Porticello near Palermo, in southern Italy. (AP Photo/Lucio Ganci)

Italian Firefighters scubadivers sails towards the area where the UK flag vessel Bayesan that was hit by a violent sudden storm, sunk early Monday, Aug. 19, 2024, while at anchor off the Sicilian village of Porticello near Palermo, in southern Italy. (AP Photo/Lucio Ganci)

FILE - British tech magnate Mike Lynch walks into federal court in San Francisco, March 26, 2024, (AP Photo/Michael Liedtke, File)

The search for the missing boat continues in Porticello Santa Flavia, Italy, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024. British tech giant Mike Lynch, his lawyer and four other people are among those missing after their luxury superyacht sank during a freak storm off Sicily, Italy’s civil protection and authorities said. Lynch’s wife and 14 other people survived. (Alberto Lo Bianco /LaPresse via AP)

Emergency services at the scene of the search for a missing boat, in Porticello Santa Flavia, Italy, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024. British tech giant Mike Lynch, his lawyer and four other people are among those missing after their luxury superyacht sank during a freak storm off Sicily, Italy’s civil protection and authorities said. Lynch’s wife and 14 other people survived. (Alberto Lo Bianco /LaPresse via AP)

Emergency services at the scene of the search for a missing boat, in Porticello Santa Flavia, Italy, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024. British tech giant Mike Lynch, his lawyer and four other people are among those missing after their luxury superyacht sank during a freak storm off Sicily, Italy’s civil protection and authorities said. Lynch’s wife and 14 other people survived. (Alberto Lo Bianco /LaPresse via AP)

Rescuers work in the area where the UK flag vessel Bayesan that was hit by a violent sudden storm, sunk early Monday, Aug. 19, 2024, while at anchor off the Sicilian village of Porticello near Palermo, in southern Italy. (AP Photo/Lucio Ganci)

Rescuers bring ashore in a green bag the body of one of the victims of the UK flag vessel Bayesan that was hit by a violent sudden storm and sunk early Monday, Aug. 19, 2024, while at anchor off the Sicilian village of Porticello near Palermo, in southern Italy. (AP Photo/Lucio Ganci)

Rescuers recoup the body of one of the victims of the UK flag vessel Bayesan that sunk early Monday, Aug. 19, 2024, while at anchor off the Sicilian village of Porticello near Palermo, in southern Italy. (AP Photo/Lucio Ganci)

This picture taken at around 20.00gmt on Sunday, Aug. 18, 2024, shows the UK's vessel Bayesan, left, and the Duch sailboat Sir Robert Baden Powell at anchor off the Sicilian village of Porticello near Palermo, in southern Italy, The Bayesan sunk at around 02.00gmt when a violent sudden storm hit the area. 15 people were initially rescued by the crew of the Sir Robert Baden Powell. (Fabio La Bianca/Baia Santa Nicolicchia via AP)

This picture taken from video released by the Italian Coast Guard on Monday, Aug. 19, 2024, shows the rescue operations in the stretch of Sea near Palermo, Sicily, in southern Italy, where the sail yacht Bayasian under UK flag sank early Monday. (Italian Coast Guard via AP, HO)

This picture taken from video released by the Italian Firefighters on Monday, Aug. 19, 2024, show the stretch of Sea near Palermo, Sicily, in southern Italy, where the sail yacht Bayasian under UK flag sank early Monday. (Vigili del Fuoco via AP, HO)

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Nearly 200 people have died in Vietnam in the aftermath of Typhoon Yagi and more than 125 are missing as flash floods and landslides take their toll, state media reported Thursday.

Vietnam's VNExpress newspaper reported that 197 people have died and 128 are still missing, while more than 800 have been injured.

In the capital, flood waters from the Red River receded slightly but many areas were still inundated.

In Hanoi's Tay Ho district, people waded through muddy brown water above their knees to make their way along one street, some still wearing their bicycle and motorcycle helmets after abandoning their vehicles along the way.

A few paddled along the road in small boats as empty water bottles, a stryofoam cooler and other flotsam drifted by; one man pushed his motorbike toward drier ground in an aluminum sloop.

Pedestrians hiked up their shorts as high as possible to avoid being soaked by the wake caused by a delivery truck powering its way through the water.

Yagi was the strongest typhoon to hit the Southeast Asian country in decades. It made landfall Saturday with winds of up to 149 kph (92 mph). Despite weakening on Sunday, downpours continued and rivers remain dangerously high.

The flooding in Hanoi has been reportedly the worst in two decades, and has led to widespread evacuations.

The death toll spiked earlier in the week as a flash flood swept away the entire hamlet of Lang Nu in northern Vietnam's Lao Cai province Tuesday.

Hundreds of rescue personnel worked tirelessly Wednesday to search for survivors, but as of Thursday morning 53 villagers remained missing, VNExpress reported, while seven more bodies were found, bringing the death toll there to 42.

Floods and landslides have caused most of the deaths, many of which have come in the northwestern Lao Cai province, bordering China, where Lang Nu is located. Lao Cai province is also home to the popular trekking destination of Sapa.

On Monday, a bridge collapsed and a bus was swept away by flooding, killing dozens of people.

The steel bridge in Phu Tho province over the engorged Red River collapsed, sending 10 cars and trucks along with two motorbikes into the river. The bus carrying 20 people was swept into a flooded stream by a landslide in mountainous Cao Bang province.

Experts say storms like Typhoon Yagi are getting stronger due to climate change, as warmer ocean waters provide more energy to fuel them, leading to higher winds and heavier rainfall.

Rising reported from Bangkok.

Flood triggered by Typhoon Yagi submerges houses in Bac Giang province, Vietnam Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. (Le Danh Lam/VNA via AP)

A woman paddles a boat on a flooded street, following Typhoon Yagi in Hanoi, Vietnam on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Huy Han)

A man pushes a stack of plyboards in flood following Typhoon Yagi in Hanoi, Vietnam on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Huy Han)

The iconic Long Bien bridge is seen on flooded Red river, following Typhoon Yagi in Hanoi, Vietnam on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Huy Han)

People look on a submerged dragon structure in a playground, following Typhoon Yagi in Hanoi, Vietnam on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Huy Han)

Mud and debris bury houses in Lang Nu hamlet in Lao Cai province, Vietnam Tuesday, Sep. 10, 2024. (Pham Hong Ninh/VNA via AP)

Vietnam death toll climbs to 197 as typhoon's aftermath brings flash floods and landslides

Vietnam death toll climbs to 197 as typhoon's aftermath brings flash floods and landslides

Rescue workers clear mud and debris brough down by a flood in Lang Nu hamlet in Lao Cai province, Vietnam Tuesday, Sep. 10, 2024. (Pham Hong Ninh/VNA via AP)