Last missing body from sunken superyacht near Sicily recovered

Divers have been operating inside the yacht for more than two days.

August 23, 2024, 9:10 AM

LONDON -- Divers in Italy have recovered the last missing passenger from the superyacht that sunk off the Sicilian coast, ABC News has learned.

Six bodies had been recovered by early Thursday morning but the body of the final missing passenger -- believed to be Hannah Lynch, the 18-year-old daughter of the yacht's owner, British tech tycoon Mike Lynch – was located inside the yacht Friday.

The body is being taken from the pier to Palermo’s Rotoli cemetery for identification.

The list of victims, according to Italian news agency Adnkronos, includes Jonathan Bloomer, the president of Morgan Stanley International; his wife Anne Elizabeth; lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Nada; British entrepreneur and yacht owner Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hanna. The ship's cook, Recaldo Thomas, was found on Monday morning.

Mike Lynch's body was recovered from the yacht on Thursday.

Rescue teams had been facing a "very hard" operation to find those still missing after the superyacht sunk on Monday, a spokesperson for the onsite fire brigade teams told ABC News.

The vessel was lost early on Monday in stormy weather around half a mile from the fishing village of Porticello, close to the city of Palermo.

PHOTO: ITALY-MARITIME-ACCIDENT-BRITAIN
Divers of the Vigili del Fuoco, the Italian Corps. of Firefighters leave Porticello harbor near Palermo, to resume research for a last missing person on August 23, 2024, four days after the British-flagged luxury yacht Bayesian sank. The body of UK tech tycoon Mike Lynch was recovered on August 22, 2024 from his sunken yacht off Sicily, as the search continued for the last of the six people missing. The Bayesian, which had 22 people aboard including 10 crew, was anchored some 700 metres from port before dawn when it was struck by a waterspout.
Alberto Pizzoli/AFP via Getty Images

Divers had been operating inside the yacht for two days, Cari added. "But the job is very hard because there are large obstacles and [we] have to work in very narrow spaces."

"It's a long process and we can only operate in short spells," said Cari. Divers have to be rotated constantly, with each only able to stay underwater for around 12 minutes, he said.

Two Americans -- Christopher and Neda Morvillo -- were among the missing, ABC News confirmed on Tuesday.

Christopher Morvillo is a partner at law firm Clifford Chance and represented Lynch in his recent fraud case brought by Hewlett Packard. He is a former assistant United States attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Editor's note: This story has been corrected to note that the list of victims was provided by Italian news agency Adnkronos and not the Palermo prosecutor's office.

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