[houseoftechno]

ROME, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Six people are missing, including British tech tycoon Mike Lynch and a Morgan Stanley executive, one person is dead and there are 15 survivors following the sinking of a luxury yacht off the northern coast of Sicily.
Here is what we know about the Aug. 19 accident and what marine experts are saying about what might have happened.

VIOLENT STORM
The Bayesian, a British flagged 56-metre (184-feet) superyacht, sank in the dark shortly before 5 am (0300 GMT) off the port of Porticello, near Palermo, after being hit by a "violent storm," the Italian coast guard said.

The coast guard said bad weather had been forecast, but added that it was more virulent than expected. Some locals spoke of a waterspout, or sea whirlwind, of exceptional force. "It was a strange thing," fisherman Andrea Carini told Reuters. The Bayesian was at anchor, its sails down, when the tempest hit, with another yacht moored nearby.

THE OTHER BOAT
The nearby yacht, the 42-metre Sir Robert Baden Powell, remained anchored and weathered the storm after its captain turned on the engine to keep control of the vessel and avoid a collision with the Bayesian.

The captain, Karsten Borner, said he did not know if the crew of the Bayesian had managed to switch on its engines. "I don't think they did things wrong, I think they were surprised by the power of the storm," he told Reuters.

"I only know that they went flat with the mast on the water and that they sank in two minutes," he said, adding that the storm was "very violent, very intense," bringing in "a lot of water and I think a turning system like a tornado."

SWIFT CAPSIZING
Andrea Ratti, a nautical design professor at Milan Polytechnic university, said a boat the size of the Bayesian could only sink so rapidly by taking in a huge amount of water. "One can make plausible assumptions that leave room for doubt" about what happened, he said, suggesting that one or more portholes, windows or other openings may have been broken or smashed open by the waterspout, letting in water.

There has also been media speculation that a major hatch might have been inadvertently left open.
However, an industry expert in Britain said it should have taken hours for the Bayesian to fill up with enough water to sink it, making its swift demise incomprehensible. "I don't think the industry has ever faced anything like this. It's a horror story," he said, declining to be named.

Fire department diver Marco Tilotta told Il Messaggero daily the wreck was "apparently intact", with "no gashes, no signs of impact". However, only one half of the hull is visible to divers.

TALLEST MAST
The Bayesian was built in 2008 by Perini Navi, an Italian luxury yacht maker, and had won awards for its design. According to Perini, it featured the world's tallest aluminum mast, measuring 72 metres.

Ratti said an unusually tall mast is not by itself an element of vulnerability in a storm. A second expert, structural engineer Filippo Mattioni, agreed, and also pointed to the possibility of "an open hatch" letting in water. Both experts were skeptical about a broken mast, which could have caused major damage smashing against the hull. "If the mast had been broken they wouldn't have capsized," captain Borner said.

RETRACTABLE KEEL
The Bayesian had a retractable keel - the fin-like structure under the hull that helps stabilise boats and acts as a counterweight to the mast. Both Ratti and Mattioni wondered if the yacht had been anchored with the keel up, reducing its depth under water from around 10 to 4 metres, making it less stable. Ratti said the boat might have started oscillating wildly, "like a pendulum", under strong winds, putting exceptional strain on the mast. But even if this had led to its breaking, "this by itself is not enough to justify the sinking," he said.

INVESTIGATION
Prosecutors in the nearby town of Termini Imerese have opened an investigation into the disaster. Their case is likely to take months to complete.

The last pic is the Bayesian nighttime moored pre-storm showing proximity to other yacht.

[kellyhound]

Stephen Chamberlain, once Mike Lynch's co-defendant in the U.S. fraud trial over the sale of Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard, has died after a road accident, his lawyer said on Monday, days before Lynch went missing off the coast of Sicily.

Chamberlain, Autonomy's former vice president of finance alongside chief executive Lynch, was hit by a car in Cambridgeshire on Saturday morning and had been placed on life support, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters earlier on Monday.

[kellyhound]

The bodies of British tech tycoon Mike Lynch and his daughter Hannah have been recovered from the sunken wreck of his Bayesian super yacht.

They along with three other passengers were found by divers three days after his £30 million boat was sunk in a “one in a million” freak storm.

[Roosta]

Originally Posted by kellyhound ↗

Stephen Chamberlain, once Mike Lynch's co-defendant in the U.S. fraud trial over the sale of Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard, has died after a road accident, his lawyer said on Monday, days before Lynch went missing off the coast of Sicily.

Chamberlain, Autonomy's former vice president of finance alongside chief executive Lynch, was hit by a car in Cambridgeshire on Saturday morning and had been placed on life support, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters earlier on Monday.

Coincidence

Look on the bright side, at least the fish have a nice new home.

[Mr.NoCredit]

Originally Posted by Roosta ↗

Coincidence

Look on the bright side, at least the fish have a nice new home.

More like a nice new mansion.

[William May]

Time to don the deep water gear, and help "RECOVER" whatever is in the safe, all the art, the gold-plated silverware, and the bags of drugs, which hopefully are carefully wrapped in plastic.

I DO feel sorry for the 18 year old, Hannah. From all descriptions, she was highly intelligent, really nice, and was headed for a life where she could really make the world a better place. Not like the other yokels on the boat, who managed to sell a company for $11 Billion dollars, when it was actually only worth $8 and some Green Stamps. Oh, well.

[x68000]

CCTV from a Sicilian port has captured the moment that superyacht Bayesian sank during a violent storm just before 5am Monday.

[kellyhound]

Italian prosecutors looking into offences of shipwreck and multiple counts of culpable homicide against an unknown person but this is standard in complex cases like this. Another ship nearby wasn't effected and the builder of the sunken ship told it was unsinkable.

Vincenzo Zagarola, of the Italian coastguard, said the dives were not "easy or quick", comparing the yacht to an "18-storey building full of water".

Mr Zagarola previously said a decision on whether to raise the sunken boat from the seabed is "not on the agenda", but will be in the future.

Conditions underwater were described as "complex", and while the British-flagged superyacht was still largely intact 50m (164ft) below the surface, the depth is far deeper than most recreational divers are qualified to reach and requires special precautions.

[kellyhound]

Following the "Bayesian" disaster with seven fatalities, the public prosecutor's office is investigating the captain. Now the builders are demanding a huge sum for damage to their image - including from the widow.

Following the sinking of the luxury yacht "Bayesian" off Sicily with seven fatalities, the Italian manufacturer of the ship is now demanding more than 200 million euros (approx. 190 million francs) in compensation, according to a media report. The claim is also directed against the widow of drowned British billionaire Mike Lynch, Angela Bacares.

The claim for a total of 222 million euros (almost 209 million Swiss francs) from the shipyard Sea Group is based on the fact that it suffered serious damage to its image due to the selection of an unsuitable crew and their actions.

The yacht, which was declared "unsinkable", sank during a storm in mid-August. The exact circumstances are still unclear. Seven people lost their lives, including Lynch's 18-year-old daughter and four guests of the wealthy software entrepreneur.

The crew managed to save themselves apart from the ship's cook. The public prosecutor's office is now investigating the captain of the "Bayesian", a New Zealander with extensive experience, as well as two other members of the crew. The investigation is also looking into the question of whether the manufacturing company is to blame.

The 15-year-old ship has now been lying aground for more than a month 900 meters off the small Sicilian port of Porticello in the Mediterranean. There is still no date for the salvage operation.

The "Bayesian", 56 meters long and with a 75 meter high mast, was one of the largest sailing yachts in the world. It was built in 2008 by the Italian shipyard Perini Navi, which was later taken over by the listed Sea Group.

According to the newspaper report, their lawyers are of the opinion that the captain was not up to the task of steering the yacht. The lawsuit was filed against the British company Revtom Limited, which is managed by the widow, and against an international operator of luxury yachts, Camper & Nicholsons. There was initially no comment from the latter.

[kellyhound]

Originally Posted by kellyhound ↗

Stephen Chamberlain, once Mike Lynch's co-defendant in the U.S. fraud trial over the sale of Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard, has died after a road accident, his lawyer said on Monday, days before Lynch went missing off the coast of Sicily.

Chamberlain, Autonomy's former vice president of finance alongside chief executive Lynch, was hit by a car in Cambridgeshire on Saturday morning and had been placed on life support, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters earlier on Monday.

A UK court Tuesday awarded £700 million ($946 million) compensation to IT firm Hewlett Packard in a fraud case involving late British tech tycoon Mike Lynch, killed last year when his superyacht sank off Sicily.

A UK court ruled in 2022 in favour of the US technology giant, now known as Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), in a civil case linked to the sale of Lynch's company, Autonomy.

Lynch, once dubbed the "British Bill Gates", founded software firm Autonomy in the 1990s. Its $11 billion sale to Hewlett Packard in 2011 also saw him face fraud charges in the United States.

HP accused Autonomy of artificially inflating its revenues and growth before the sale and had demanded $5 billion in compensation.

"We are pleased that this decision brings us a step closer to the resolution of this dispute," said a spokesperson for Hewlett Packard.

"We look forward to the further hearing at which the final amount of HPE's damages will be determined," they added.

The further hearing, dealing with matters including interest, currency conversion and whether Lynch's estate can appeal the decision, is scheduled for November.

The British court had not yet awarded damages when Lynch was killed along with his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, four friends and the yacht's cook in the sinking of his British-flagged vessel Bayesian in a storm in August 2024.

Lynch, 59, his family and guests were on board celebrating his acquittal in the massive US fraud case.

The 56-metre (185-foot) yacht was struck by a mini-tornado before dawn as it was anchored off Porticello, near Palermo.

Hewlett Packard had recorded nearly $9 billion in write-downs, including more than $5 billion it claimed resulted from accounting manipulations by Autonomy's directors before the sale.

But justice Robert Hildyard in the British case wrote in his ruling that "HP's claim was always substantially exaggerated".

The initial compensation award had been expected in September 2024, and before his sudden death Lynch had prepared a written reaction to the judgement.

The ruling "exposes HP's failure and makes clear that the immense damage to Autonomy was down to HP's own errors and actions", he wrote, adding that the company would consider appealing the decision.

A spokesman told AFP any debts would have to be discharged from Lynch's estate.