Morgan Stanley International chairman Jonathan Bloomer is among those confirmed missing by Italian authorities along with British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch after the luxury yacht they were on board sank off the coast of Sicily early on Monday.
The head of the civil protection agency in Sicily, Salvo Cocina, said that the six passengers still missing are Bloomer and his wife Judy, Clifford Chance partner Chris Morvillo and his wife Nada, as well as Lynch and his daughter Hannah.
Of the 12 guests and 10 crew who were on the yacht named Bayesian, at least one person has died after a tornado hit the vessel near Porticello. Lynch and his family were aboard with a small group of his financial and legal advisers celebrating the tycoon’s recent acquittal from fraud charges when the violent storm hit.
Bloomer, 70, has worked in the finance industry for five decades. He’s been chairman of Morgan Stanley’s European business since 2018, and was named to lead British insurer Hiscox Ltd.’s board last year. He is a friend of Lynch and was a witness for the defence in the long-running legal battle with Hewlett Packard.
Lawyer Morvillo served as co-counsel for Lynch, successfully defending him from criminal charges that he duped HP into overpaying for his software firm, Autonomy Corp.
Morgan Stanley and Hiscox said in separate statements that they were “shocked and saddened” by the news and awaiting further developments. Clifford Chance declined to comment.
As of Monday, Italy’s coastguard was leading search and rescue operations and had recovered 15 people, according to Camper & Nicholsons, the managers of the 56-metre (184-foot) yacht.
Divers were loading a rescue dinghy at the port of Porticello, near Palermo, after a first search on Monday ended unsuccessfully. Fire rescue crews reported that divers were unable to access the below-deck cabins because they were blocked by debris that had shifted during the violent storm that toppled the luxury sailing boat early on Monday.
The search was made particularly difficult because the ship was resting on the seabed at a depth of 50 metres, which limits the amount of time divers can be underwater, said fire rescue spokesperson Luca Cari. As a result, the search is expected to take time, he said early on Tuesday.
The rotating search teams, each made up of two specialised cave divers, were working on Tuesday to open up other access points to get inside the wreckage. Rescue crews said they assume the six passengers will be found in the below-deck cabins, given the time of the shipwreck, but that they have not managed to verify their presence there through portholes.
The statement referred to the six as “missing.” Fire rescue officials have said the six will be considered missing until they are located in the wreckage.
Prosecutors in Sicily also opened a probe into the sinking of the yacht, and have spoken at length to a skipper who was on board, Italian media reported on Tuesday. They believe the most likely explanation is that the Bayesian’s mast snapped during an extraordinary bout of bad weather.
The UK’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch has also sent a team of inspectors to the area.
