Hopes dim for six missing after sinking of Mike Lynch's yacht
Adds coast guard underwater inspections in paragraph 6, yacht details and comments by captain's brother in paragraphs 12-13.
By Giselda Vagnoni and Alvise Armellini
PORTICELLO, Italy, Aug 21 (Reuters) -Divers resumed a search on Wednesday for six missing people after British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch's yacht sank off the coast of Sicily two days ago, although hopes dwindled for finding them alive.
The British-flagged Bayesian, a 56-metre-long (184-ft) superyacht, was carrying 22 people and was anchored off the port of Porticello, near Palermo, when it capsized during a fierce storm on Monday.
Fifteen people survived and one crew member's body was recovered. The six missing include Lynch, his 18-year-old daughter and Jonathan Bloomer, a non-executive chair of Morgan Stanley International.
Underwater inspection of the wreck resumed early on Wednesday, the fire department said on social media, having earlier described the operations as "long and complex".
The yacht was lying sideways at a depth of around 50 metres, giving divers 8-10 minutes to inspect it before having to resurface. Efforts have been hampered by "very confined" spaces inside the wreck, fire department spokesman Luca Cari said.
The Italian coast guard said it was using a remotely operated vehicle to inspect the seabed and take underwater pictures and videos that may provide "useful and timely elements" for ongoing investigations into the disaster.
MISSING PASSENGERS
Lynch, 59, is one of the UK's best-known tech entrepreneurs and has been referred to as the country's Bill Gates.
He built the UK's largest software firm, Autonomy, which was sold to HP for $11 billion in 2011, after which the deal spectacularly unravelled with the U.S. tech giant accusing him of fraud, resulting in a lengthy trial. Lynch was acquitted on all charges by a jury in San Francisco in June.
The other missing passengers were Bloomer's wife Judy, Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife, Neda Morvillo. Morvillo represented Lynch in the San Francisco trial, while Bloomer was a character witness on his behalf.
Experts have been at a loss to explain how a large luxury vessel, presumed to have top-class fittings and safety features, could have sunk within minutes, as recounted by witnesses. Another yacht anchored next to it was unharmed by the tempest.
The Bayesian, which was owned by Lynch's wife, was built by Italian shipbuilder Perini in 2008 and last refitted in 2020. It had the world's tallest aluminium mast, measuring 72 metres, according to its makers.
BLACK SWAN EVENT
Its captain James Cutfield, a 51-year-old New Zealander who survived the shipwreck, was a "very good sailor" and "very well respected" in the Mediterranean, his brother Mark told The New Zealand Herald.
Matthew Schanck, chair of the Maritime Search and Rescue Council, a UK-based non-profit organisation that trains sea rescuers, said the Bayesian was the victim of a "high impact" weather-related incident.
"If it was a water spout, which it appears to be, it's what I would class as like a 'black swan' event," he told Reuters, referring to a rare and unpredictable phenomenon.
He said he was confident the authorities would "get to the bottom" of what caused the shipwreck, thanks to the accounts of survivors, witnesses and examination of the sunken hull, which did not show any apparent signs of damage.
Additional reporting by Guglielmo Mangiapane and Matteo Negri, editing by Gavin Jones and Bernadette Baum
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