Mission to Recover Mike Lynch's Superyacht Suspended After Diver Dies

Yahoo

12-05-2025

A company involved in the recovery of Mike Lynch's superyacht announced that a specialist died while working underwater, resulting in the operation to be momentarily suspended
The diver was reportedly a part of a crew that was planning to cut down and remove the yacht's 246-foot mast
The Bayesian sank on Aug. 19, 2024 in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the coast of Sicily, leaving seven people deadAn operation to retrieve the luxury yacht Bayesian that sank off the coast of Sicily last year was temporarily suspended after a specialist diver died while underwater, according to a company involved in the salvage mission.
In an email to PEOPLE on Monday, May 12, a spokesperson for the U.K.-based TMC Marine responded about the incident that occurred on Friday, May 9.
"We are saddened to confirm the tragic death of a specialist diver while doing underwater work earlier today [Friday]," TMC said in a statement. "The circumstances of the accident are currently being investigated by the authorities and all parties are offering their full cooperation. We are giving every support to the salvage team on site at this heartbreaking time and our thoughts are with the family of the deceased.'
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The company added that the "pause in activity is necessary for the investigations to be completed and to allow all salvage and associated teams to mourn the tragic loss of a highly respected salvage diver during yesterday's underwater work."
The Palermo Port Authority is handling the investigation surrounding the diver's death, reported the Associated Press. PEOPLE contacted the Port of Palermo for additional information on Monday.
According to CBS News, which cited local media reports, the 39-year-old diver was a member of a crew that was planning to cut and remove the yacht's 246-foot mast. The vessel is lying on its side on the seabed about 164 feet beneath the surface.
Police said the cause of the death of the diver, who was working underwater in Porticello, is unknown, per Reuters. Italian media said he was a Dutch national employed at the salvage company Hebo Maritiemservice.
The "tragedy has been felt by all involved in this project, and the priority right now is the family of this expert, specialist diver, who was well liked and indeed loved by all involved in the project," Marcus Cave, head of naval architecture and a director of TMC Marine, said in a statement to PEOPLE.
Cave added, 'The salvage team is providing full cooperation to the authorities in their investigations."
On Aug. 19, 2024, the Bayesian sank into the waves of the Tyrrhenian Sea after what the Italian coast guard described a 'violent storm.' At the time, the vessel carried 22 people: 12 passengers and 10 crew.
Fifteen people were soon rescued after the sinking. Four days later, following complicated and protracted search and rescue efforts, the bodies of seven victims were found. They were British tech businessman Mike Lynch and his daughter Hannah; Chairman of Morgan Stanley International Jonathan Bloomer and his wife, Judy Bloomer; New York City-based lawyer Christopher Morvillo and his wife, jewelry designer Neda Morvillo; and chef Recaldo Thomas.
Before the tragedy, the group was "celebrating Lynch's acquittal" after a lengthy legal saga that dated back to the 2011 sale of Autonomy, a business software company Lynch founded, to Hewlett Packard, a source close to the survivors told PEOPLE at the time.
The Bayesian was made by yachtmaker Perini Navi, which the Italian Sea Group bought at the end of 2021. CEO Giovanni Costantino had suggested that the vessel was designed to be 'unsinkable.'
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At the time, it was unclear why the vessel sank. One theory raised was that the boat capsized after being struck by a waterspout (which refers to a tornado over the water), though there may have been more factors at play that contributed to the sinking.
"The dynamics aren't clear — lightning, mini tornado, water spout, it's not clear exactly what happened," one person close to the search efforts earlier told PEOPLE. "The most likely hypothesis is that the cause was indeed a tornado that began at land and then sped out off coast and became a waterspout at sea with a speed of more than [180 miles] per hour, to the point that it managed to practically sink the ship whilst causing minimum damage to both the mast and the hull."
Multiple news outlets reported the captain had been under investigation and questioned by prosecutors from the Termini Imerese Prosecutor's Office last year, with topics focusing on the position of the keel, whether the hatch was open and when an alarm was raised amid the worsening weather conditions.
An Italian criminal lawyer told PEOPLE that being placed under investigation "does not imply guilt (innocent until proven guilty) and does not automatically mean charges will be brought against the person."
Read the original article on People