The body of British tech tycoon Mike Lynch was pulled from the wreckage of his $40 million yacht Thursday, as rescuers continue searching for his teenage daughter.
Previous Italian media reports said Lynch, 59, and his 18-year-old daughter, Hannah, had been found earlier in the rescue operation off the coast of Italy.
However, the tech titan was found Thursday, three days after his British-flagged luxury ship sank off the coast of Italy during a violent storm, the Italian coast guard confirmed.
His body was brought to shore in a blue body bag and driven in an ambulance to a morgue in Palermo.
His daughter was the only one of six known killed in the tragedy yet to be found, a source close to the rescue operation told Reuters.
Divers have been searching inside the hull of the sunken yacht over the past three days, though their mission has proven difficult due to the depth of the wreckage, at about 160 feet below the water. Because of that, divers can only stay underwater for 12 minutes at a time.
“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 1 meter can take up to 24 hours,” Cari said.
The body of the on-ship chef, Ricardo Thomas, the first confirmed fatality, was discovered shortly after the Bayesian sank.
The others recovered have been confirmed to be New York City attorney Christopher Morvillo and his wife, Neda, as well as Morgan Stanley exec Jonathan Bloomer and his wife, Judy, the Guardian reported, citing divers quoted by Italian media.
Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, and 14 others — including a 1-year-old child — managed to escape the sinking ship before it capsized.
Lynch had invited the group aboard his family’s yacht to celebrate his recent acquittal in a major US fraud trial. His guests included lawyers from the firm that represented him, as well as friends and allies who supported him through the legal battle.
The search for the sixth and final person missing continued Thursday, with officials determined to locate the missing teen by the end of the day.
“We are still working on it,” Giuseppe Petrone, the national director of Italy’s firefighting department divers, told the Guardian. “We should be able to recover the sixth body today.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
With Post wires
