Missing Mike Lynch ‘may never be found’ after superyacht Bayesian sinks | World | News
The body of millionaire Mike Lynch may never be recovered after his yacht, the Bayesian, tragically sank off the coast of Sicily, an expert has warned. The luxury vessel capsized around 04.30am yesterday (August 20) while anchored near Porticello, close to Palermo in northern Sicily.
Following the incident, search and rescue teams have been tirelessly scouring both the area around the yacht and further afield for any survivors. But specialist firefighter Marco Tilotta revealed that the operation is proving challenging due to the yacht lying on its right side, with a “world of objects” blocking access to its cabins.
Now, an expert has issued a bleak prediction that the bodies of 59-year-old Lynch and five other missing individuals may never be discovered. Dr Simon Boxall, a professor at the University of Southampton’s School of Ocean and Earth Science, spoke to the Mirror about the slim chances of survival for the six missing people, including Lynch.
He explained that the odds were not only slim due to the nature of the incident but also because of the depth at which the boat now rests. The Bayesian is reportedly located around 50m underwater, a depth that Mr Boxall describes as “too deep for, if you like, recreational diving apparatus.”
Dr Boxall warned that the chances of recovering bodies thrown from a capsized boat are grim, as victims could be swept far out to sea.
He told the Mirror: “Now there are searches going on, we know that, but the possibility of finding a body once it’s at sea for this long again is slim, simply because of the timescale and the fact that although the Mediterranean has got low tides, the flows around Sicily, sort of that boundary between the east and west Meditteranean can be quite fast.
“So a body could move quite some distance in that time.”
However, Dr Boxall held onto a minuscule glimmer of hope, acknowledging there might be a “lottery-win-level” chance of the missing people being alive.
Expanding on this thread of hope, he said: “There is a very, very faint chance they might be still alive, but I mean, it’s lottery win-type probabilities because they could be in an air pocket, which they’ve managed to survive in but, the divers have heard nothing so far.”
The precariousness extends to the rescue divers too, faced with hazardous wreck conditions and limited dive times, Dr Boxall explained, “They can only be down there for a few minutes at a time. It’s not so deep that you can’t send divers down but it is too deep for, if you like, recreational type diving apparatus.”
“You know, this thing is on the seabed, it’s unstable. It’s a wreck because reports are already saying they’re having trouble getting through furniture and stuff. So it’s a very dangerous operation [and] it’s a slow process….if there are bodies trapped in there, they will find them eventually.”
