A rescue boat of the Italian Fire Brigade Vigili del Foco sets sail off Porticello near Palermo, on August 20, 2024, a day after the British-flagged luxury yacht Paisian sank.
Alberto Pezzoli | AFP | Getty Images
Salvatore Cosina, head of Sicily's civil protection agency, confirmed to NBC News on Wednesday that two bodies have been recovered from the wreckage of the luxury yacht that sank in a storm early Monday morning.
Rescue teams did not immediately identify the names or gender of the victims, the second and third victims in the accident, after confirming the death of one person earlier this week.
Specialist divers were searching for six passengers on the yacht who were still missing earlier on Wednesday, before finding the two bodies later in the day. Divers warned that the operation was proving difficult.
Italian emergency services were able to access some rooms on the ship, but had difficulty accessing sleeping cabins where people may have been on board at the time of the disaster. This prevented divers from seeing if anyone was inside.
The wreck lies tilted at a depth of about 50 metres (184 ft), while access is hampered by narrow access points, thick glass windows, and a collection of objects and electrical cables.
Divers involved in the operation told NBC News on Wednesday that the depth of the wreck meant they had only 10 minutes to inspect the ship before having to return to the surface.
The missing are British businessman Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, Morgan Stanley International chairman Jonathan Plummer and his wife, charity trustee Judy Plummer, and Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife, jewelry designer Nida Morvillo.
Mike Lynch, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard's Autonomy unit, speaks at a conference on Thursday, April 25, 2013.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The Italian Coast Guard confirmed to Sky News on Tuesday that the man who died in the incident was Riccaldo Thomas, a Canadian chef of Antiguan origin.
According to eyewitnesses and survivors, the ship was hit by a violent storm at around 4 a.m. local time on Monday while anchored near the port of Porticello in Sicily. The ship quickly sank after capsizing.
A US court acquitted Lynch less than three months ago of 15 counts of conspiracy and wire fraud related to the sale of his software company Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard in 2011. Lynch had long denied artificially inflating the company's value before selling it for $11.7 billion, and was extradited in 2023 from the UK to stand trial in the US.
This image obtained from social media shows the 56-metre-long Bayesian sailing ship, which later sank off the Sicilian capital of Palermo, in Santa Flavia, Italy on August 18, 2024.
Baia Santa Nicolechea | Fabio La Bianca | via Reuters
The trip on the British-flagged luxury yacht Baysian is believed to have been a celebration of Lynch's acquittal. Morvillo represented Lynch in the case, while Blumer – who holds a non-executive position as chairman of Morgan Stanley's European arm – testified for the defence.
Lynch's wife, Angela Pakaris, was on board and was rescued along with 14 others, including a one-year-old girl and her parents.
In a separate incident on Saturday, Stephen Chamberlain, a former vice president of finance at Autonomy and a co-defendant in Lynch's trial, died after being hit by a car while fleeing in Cambridgeshire, England, Chamberlain's lawyer told Reuters.
CNBC's Sophie Kiderlein contributed to this report.
