The tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch is among those missing after a superyacht with 22 people onboard sank off the coast of Sicily during a violent storm, the Guardian understands.
Lynch, 59, known for being the founder of Autonomy Corporation, is understood to be one of four Britons reported missing while his wife, Angela Bacares, has been rescued, a source familiar with the situation said.
Two Americans and a Canadian person are also missing. A spokesperson for Lynch declined to comment.
Fifteen people were rescued from the 56-metre sailing boat Bayesian by coastguard patrol boats and firefighters, including a one-year-old child.
One body was found near the wreck, but six others were unaccounted for, said Luca Cari, a spokesperson for the Italian fire rescue service.
A spokesperson for the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said: “We are in contact with the local authorities following an incident in Sicily, and stand ready to provide consular support to British nationals affected.”
Lynch co-founded Autonomy, a software firm that became one of the shining lights of the UK tech scene, in the mid-90s.
He was awarded an OBE (Order of the British Empire) for services to enterprise in 2006, and appointed in 2011 to the science and technology council of the then prime minister, David Cameron. He was elected as a fellow to the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2008 and the Royal Society in 2014.
In June this year, he was cleared of all charges at a trial in the US on 15 counts of fraud he had faced over the $11.1bn purchase of Autonomy by Hewlett-Packard in 2011.
The trial began in March in San Francisco after a lengthy battle over his extradition from England to the US. He was first charged in 2018, accused of inflating sales, misleading regulators and duping his eventual buyer.
Upon his acquittal he told reporters: “I am looking forward to returning to the UK and getting back to what I love most: my family and innovating in my field.”
The Italian coastguard said in a statement: “This morning at about 5.00am, following a violent storm, a 56-metre yacht called Bayesian flying the British flag sank near Porticello.” The boat had a crew of 10 people and 12 passengers, it added.
Rescue divers are trying to reach the hull, which sank to approximately 49 metres. The public prosecutor’s office in Termini Imerese is investigating the incident.
Eight of those rescued, including the one-year-old, were transferred to local hospitals and were all in a stable condition.
Doctors from Di Cristina hospital in Palermo reported that the mother of the child “kept her daughter afloat with all my strength, with her arms outstretched upwards to prevent her from drowning.”
“It was all dark,” the woman, a British citizen named Charlotte, told the doctors. “In the water, I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I was screaming for help, but all I could hear around me were the screams of others.”
The coastguard said the yacht was built by the Italian shipbuilder Perini in 2008. The luxury vessel has an aluminium hull, can reach a maximum speed of 15 knots and can carry 12 guests and a crew of up to 10, according to online specialist yacht sites.
The boat left the Sicilian port of Milazzo on 14 August and was last tracked east of Palermo on Sunday evening, with a navigation status of “at anchor”, according to the tracking app Vesselfinder.
Reports in local media said that a waterspout had hit the vessel. A waterspout, which roughly resembles a mini-tornado, is a column that descends from a cloud to form a rotating mixture of wind and water over a body of water.
Some fishers reported spotting a small tornado off the coast at about 3.55am. Shortly after, they witnessed a distress flare allegedly launched from the vessel. The fishers approached but recounted seeing only “scattered remains of the sailboat floating in the water”.
Storms and heavy rainfall have swept through Italy in recent days, with floods and landslides causing major damage in the north of the country after weeks of scorching heat.
Agencies contributed to this report