Body of British tech magnate Mike Lynch is among those recovered from yacht wreckage, officials say

PORTICELLO, Sicily (AP) — The Italian coast guard said Thursday the body of British tech magnate Mike Lynch is among those recovered off the coast of Sicily from the wreckage of a superyacht whose builders had called unsinkable.

One woman remains missing. She has not been identified, but Hannah Lynch, Lynch's 18-year-old daughter, is reportedly unaccounted for. The family had been celebrating his recent acquittal on fraud charges with the people who defended him at trial in the United States.

Five others were recovered by rescue crews following Monday's tragedy.

The Bayesian, a 56-meter (184-foot) British-flagged yacht, went down in a storm early Monday as it was moored about a kilometer (half a mile) offshore. Civil protection officials said they believe the ship was struck by a tornado over the water, known as a waterspout, and sank quickly.

Termini Imerese Public Prosecutor’s Office investigators were collecting evidence for a criminal investigation, which they opened immediately after the tragedy despite no formal suspects having been publicly identified.

The chief executive of The Italian Sea Group, which owns the Bayesian's manufacturer, told the AP in an interview on Thursday that superyachts like these are “designed to be unsinkable."

“And it is unsinkable not only because it is designed in this way, but also because it is a sailing ship and sailing ships are the safest ever,” CEO Giovanni Costantino said.

Costantino added that “obviously they must not hit the rocks violently, discarding the hull, and they must not take in water,” suggesting the second possibility was the most likely in this case.

Costantino also noted that sailing ships require “a greater competence” to be guided compared with motor boats.

Investigators are now looking at why the Bayesian, built in 2008 by Italian shipyard Perini Navi, sank while a nearby sailboat remained largely unscathed. Fifteen of the 22 people aboard survived by escaping in a lifeboat, including a mother who reported holding her 1-year-old baby over the waves to save her. They were rescued by the sailboat Sir Robert Baden Powell.

The sailboat's captain, Karsten Borner, said his craft sustained minimal damage — the frame of a sun awning broke — even with winds that he estimated had reached 12 on the Beaufort wind scale, the highest hurricane-strength force on the scale.

He said he had remained anchored with his engines running to try to maintain the ship’s position as the forecast storm rolled in.

“Another possibility is to heave anchor before the storm and to run downwind at open sea,” Borner said in a text message. But he said that might not have been possible for the Bayesian, given its 75-meter (246-foot) tall mast.

“If there was a stability problem, caused by the extremely tall mast, it would not have been better at open sea,” he said.

Yachts like the Bayesian are required to have watertight compartments that are specifically designed to prevent a rapid, catastrophic sinking even when some parts fill with water.

Lynch is the only person confirmed dead; the other bodies have not been formally identified by the Italian coast guard.

Besides Hannah Lynch, those missing are Christopher Morvillo, one of Lynch’s U.S. lawyers, and his wife, Neda; Jonathan Bloomer, chairman of Morgan Stanley’s London-based investment banking subsidiary, and his wife, Judy.

The body of chef Recaldo Thomas was the first to be recovered, on Monday. His death was confirmed by his family.

Friends of Thomas, best known as “Rick,” paid tribute to him on Thursday at a favorite bar in the Caribbean Island of Antigua. Cooking for Lynch was supposed to be one of Thomas' last jobs before retiring, his cousin, David Isaac, told the AP.

Divers have struggled to find the bodies in the yacht’s hull on the seabed 50 meters (164 feet) underwater.

“We would need a crystal ball to know when we'll be able to find the next body," said Luca Cari, spokesperson for the fire rescue service.

“It's very difficult to move inside the wreckage. Moving just one meter can take up to 24 hours,” Cari said.

Prefect of Palermo, Massimo Mariani, left, is flanked by a firefighter as he arrives at the harbor in Porticello, Sicily, southern Italy, Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024. Divers searching the wreck of the superyacht Bayesian that sank off Sicily on Monday recovered a fifth body on Thursday and continued to search for one more as investigators sought to learn why the vessel sank so quickly. (AP Photo/Salvatore Cavalli)

Italian firefighter divers work at the site of a shipwreck, in Porticello, Sicily, southern Italy, Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024. Divers searching the wreck of the superyacht Bayesian that sank off Sicily on Monday recovered a fifth body on Thursday and continued to search for one more as investigators sought to learn why the vessel sank so quickly. (AP Photo/Salvatore Cavalli)

A man and a woman wait outside a tent where the body of one of the victims of a shipwreck was taken by rescuers, in Porticello, Sicily, southern Italy, Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024. Divers searching the wreck of the superyacht Bayesian that sank off Sicily on Monday recovered a fifth body on Thursday and continued to search for one more as investigators sought to learn why the vessel sank so quickly. The sign in Italian at right reads: 'Space reserved for the judicial authority and the medical examiner'. (AP Photo/Salvatore Cavalli)

People watch the Italian firefighter divers bringing ashore in a plastic bag the body of one of the victims of a shipwreck, in Porticello, Sicily, southern Italy, Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024. Divers searching the wreck of the superyacht Bayesian that sank off Sicily on Monday recovered a fifth body on Thursday and continued to search for one more as investigators sought to learn why the vessel sank so quickly. (AP Photo/Salvatore Cavalli)

Italian firefighter divers bring ashore in a plastic bag the body of one of the victims of a shipwreck, in Porticello, Sicily, southern Italy, Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024. Divers searching the wreck of the superyacht Bayesian that sank off Sicily on Monday recovered a fifth body on Thursday and continued to search for one more as investigators sought to learn why the vessel sank so quickly. (AP Photo/Salvatore Cavalli)

Italian firefighter divers bring ashore in a plastic bag the body of one of the victims of a shipwreck, in Porticello, Sicily, southern Italy, Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024. Divers searching the wreck of the superyacht Bayesian that sank off Sicily on Monday recovered a fifth body on Thursday and continued to search for one more as investigators sought to learn why the vessel sank so quickly. (AP Photo/Salvatore Cavalli)

Italian firefighter divers bring ashore in a green bag the body of one of the victims of the UK flag vessel Bayesian, Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024. The luxury sail yacht was hit by a violent sudden storm and sunk early Monday, while at anchor off the Sicilian village of Porticello near Palermo, in southern Italy. (AP Photo/Salvatore Cavalli)

A boat, top, carrying a dive team passes a fishing boat as it heads out to the site of the Bayesian on the fourth day of the search and recovery operation after the luxury yacht sank in a storm on Monday whilst moored around half a mile off the coast of Porticello, Sicily. ( Jonathan Brady/PA via AP)

Scuba divers of the Italian Firefighters corp at the scene of the search for a missing boat, in Porticello, southern Italy, Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024. Rescue teams and divers returned to the site of a storm-sunken superyacht Tuesday to search for six people, including British tech magnate Mike Lynch, who are believed to be still trapped in the hull 50 meters (164-feet) underwater. (AP Photo/Salvatore Cavalli)

Italian Firefighters scuba divers bring ashore in a green bag the body of one of the victims of the UK flag vessel Bayesian, Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024. The sail yacht was hit by a violent sudden storm and sunk early Monday, while at anchor off the Sicilian village of Porticello near Palermo, in southern Italy. (AP Photo/Salvatore Cavalli)

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Conflict is likely among partners in South Africa's new coalition government but that won't be “catastrophic” for its hopes of turning around the country, the leader of the second biggest political party said Thursday.

John Steenhuisen's Democratic Alliance joined a coalition government led by the long-ruling African National Congress against all expectations after May's national election, making staunch foes from either side of the South African political spectrum partners in government.

Analysts predicted it would be a difficult working relationship — and Steenhuisen called it “a marriage of inconvenience” for Africa's most advanced economy, which is burdened by problems of poverty, inequality, unemployment and failing state-run businesses.

Steenhuisen said that there would likely be many moments of disagreement between his center-right DA and the left-leaning ANC over the next five years of the parliamentary term to end South Africa's “deep crisis,” and that should be accepted.

“Conflict over policy ... is not necessarily an existential threat to the government," Steenhuisen said in a lunchtime speech to a largely elderly audience at a plush sports club in Cape Town. “There will be conflict. There will be differences in policy.”

The ANC and the DA came together along with eight other smaller parties to form what's been called a government of national unity after weeks of painstaking negotiations following the May 29 election. The historic agreement was brokered after the long-dominant ANC lost its parliamentary majority for the first time since the end of the apartheid system of racial segregation in 1994, forcing it to find coalition partners to stay in government. It put South Africa in uncharted political waters.

The coalition government was finally formed at the end of June and faces the challenge of reigning in South Africa's desperate unemployment rate of 32%, the highest in the world outside of a war zone. South Africa's economy has hardly grown over the last decade, and Steenhuisen, the former main opposition leader who is now the minister of agriculture, said his party had a singular focus on those issues in government.

“Economic growth and job creation. Growth and jobs. Me and my party are not going to let anything get in the way of that,” he said.

The conflict Steenhuisen spoke of between the DA and ANC could be seen on Friday if President Cyril Ramaphosa, the ANC leader, signs an education bill into law that the DA is strongly opposed to, as Ramaphosa has said he will.

Steenhuisen said his party would take the government it is part of to court over the law if Ramaphosa signs it and accused the ANC of “riding roughshod” over its coalition partners.

The DA is also deeply opposed to a national health law that was introduced before the election that will effectively make the government the sole procurer of healthcare. Critics, including the DA, say it will wipe out the private healthcare business instead of improving public healthcare. The DA is also committed to challenging that in court, Steenhuisen said, another issue where the two main parties that hold the fate of the coalition are at loggerheads.

But Steenhuisen said there was also “a long list” of policies the ANC and DA have agreed on in the 2 1/2 months since the coalition government was formed, mostly with regards to reforming an economy that is meant to be a leader in Africa and for the wider developing world but had just 1.9% GDP growth in 2022 and 0.6% last year.

Steenhuisen said Ramaphosa and the ANC had “no better ally than the Democratic Alliance" when it came to economic reforms that would create jobs and fight poverty.

AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa

FILE - Cyril Ramaphosa waves as he arrives ahead of his inauguration as President, at the Union Buildings in Tshwane, South Africa, June 19, 2024. (Kim Ludbrook/Pool Photo via AP, File)

FILE - Main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) party leader, John Steenhuisen, delivers his speech at a final election rally in Benoni, South Africa, May 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe, File)