Tech tycoon Lynch's superyacht Bayesian lifted from water off Sicily coast

7:24 am on 22 June 2025

By Roberto Mignucci, Reuters

Crane ships Hebo Lift raise the superyacht Bayesian that sank off Sicily last year, killing British tech tycoon Mike Lynch, his teenage daughter and five others, on June 20, 2025 off Porticello, near Palermo. The"Bayesian" yacht that was struck by a pre-dawn storm in August last year while anchored off Porticello sunk within minutes killing British tech tycoon Mike Lynch, and six others. (Photo by Alessandro FUCARINI / AFP)

Crane ships raise the superyacht Bayesian that sank off Sicily last year, killing British tech tycoon Mike Lynch, his teenage daughter and five others, on 20 June 2025 off Porticello, near Palermo. Photo: Alessandro Fucarini / AFP

Salvage experts use powerful crane to lift yacht from seabed
Yacht sank during sudden storm with powerful winds
Inspection to seek clues into tragedy that has puzzled experts

Salvage experts hauled British tech tycoon Mike Lynch's superyacht from the water and plan to take it to a Sicilian port for inspection, 10 months after it sank off the coast of Sicily, killing Lynch, his teenage daughter and five others.

Work had resumed at first light on Saturday (local time), with one of the most powerful maritime cranes in Europe used to haul the 56-metre-long Bayesian from beneath the waves.

The Bayesian's upper decks appeared badly damaged while the blue hull was encrusted with mud after it had lain on the seabed at a depth of 50m.

Italian authorities in the nearby port of Termini Imerese will have a chance to inspect the luxury yacht next week as they seek clues into a tragedy that has puzzled maritime experts.

Divers of the Vigili del Fuoco, the Italian Corps. of Firefighters arrive in Porticello harbor near Palermo, with a third body at the back of the boat on August 21, 2024, two days after the British-flagged luxury yacht Bayesian sank. Divers searching for six missing people following the sinking of a superyacht off Sicily in a storm have found four bodies, a source close to the search told AFP. 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. Among the six missing were UK tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, and Jonathan Bloomer, the chair of Morgan Stanley International, and his wife Judy. (Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP)

Italian divers retrieve the body of one of the victims of the Bayesian sinking. Photo: AFP

The Bayesian was moored off the small port of Porticello, near Palermo, in August last year when it sank during a sudden storm.

The yacht was vulnerable to violent winds and was probably knocked over by gusts of more than 117kmh, an interim British report said last month.

Three people, including the New Zealand skipper James Cutfield, are under investigation after the sinking off the coast of Sicily last year.

Being investigated in Italy does not imply guilt and does not mean formal charges will follow.

The salvage team, led by British company TMC Marine, pumped sea water out of the hull and the vessel was held in an elevated position, surrounded by pollution containment booms, while further checks were carried out.

"This was a complex and precise lifting operation to recover Bayesian, and followed a step-by-step programme of salvage work," said Marcus Cave, a director of TMC Marine.

(FILES) Mike Lynch, CEO of Autonomy Group, attends The Times CEO summit at the Savoy Hotel in London, on June 21, 2011. Uk tycoon Mike Lynch, who was recently acquitted in the US of an $11 billion fraud, is among those missing after a superyacht sank off southern Italy, a source close to the rescue effort said on August 19, 2024. Lynch's wife was among 15 people rescued, according to the source, after the luxury yacht 'Bayesian' sank overnight amid violent winds and rains off the coast of Sicily, leaving six others missing. (Photo by BEN GURR / POOL / AFP)

Mike Lynch, chief executive of Autonomy Group, on 21 June 2011. File photo. Photo: AFP / Pool / Ben Gurr

The plan is for the yacht to be carried to port on Sunday before it is lifted on Monday onto a specially manufactured steel cradle on the quayside.

The recovery process has been made easier after the vessel's 72m mast was detached using a remote-controlled cutting tool and placed on the seabed on Tuesday.

In addition to Lynch, founder of the software company Autonomy, his daughter Hannah, lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda, banker Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy, and chef Recaldo Thomas were killed when the yacht sank.

Nine other crew members and six guests were rescued.

- Reuters / RNZ