Sicily superyacht tragedy: 'UK's Bill Gates' Mike Lynch and daughter confirmed dead - Report

Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah are believed to be among the five dead bodies discovered after the luxury superyacht Bayesian sank off the coast of Sicily on Monday (Aug 19), according to The Telegraph.

As many as 22 people were on theyacht when a freak storm hit the vesselwhile it was anchored just off the shore near the port of Porticello.

Salvo Cocina, the director of Sicily’s civil protection agency confirmed that the tech tycoon and daughter had been found.

“On behalf of myself and my colleagues, I would like to express my deepest sympathy to the families of the victims and express our condolences to them at this difficult time," said Cocina.

Who is Mike Lynch?

Lynch, born on June 16, 1965, was an extremely popular business tycoon, once touted as the UK's answer to Microsoft founder Bill Gates.He founded the British tech firm Autonomy in 1996 and was also the driving force behind other successful tech firms.

He later established tech investment firm Invoke Capital, which invested in the creation of British cyber security company Darktrace in 2013. He was on the board of the company till early this year

A large portion of his wealth came from selling Autonomy toUS computing giant Hewlett-Packard (HP) for $11 billion in 2011. However, the high-profile business deal was mired in controversy as the US prosecutors in 2018, charged him forartificially inflating the company's value.

They accused him of concealing the firm's loss-making business and of intimidating or paying off people who raised concerns.

Recovery operation for yacht underway

The yacht, as per reports, is largely intact and is resting on the seabed 50 metres below. A complex recovery operation is underway to salvage it.

Passengers on the Bayesian were celebrating Lynch's recent acquittal in a significant US fraud case. The tech mogulwas cleared of all charges related to the selling of his software company to HP.

The suddenness of the yacht's sinking and the fact that other nearby vessels were unaffected have raised questions. Italian authorities, as per local media reports, have launched an investigation, interviewing survivors, including the yacht's captain, James Cutfield, a 51-year-old New Zealander.

According to reports, Cutfield, originally from New Zealand, was questioned by the prosecutorsfrom the Termini Imerese public prosecutor’s office for two hours on Wednesday.

(With inputs from agencies)