PA averageThe family of British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch and his daughter Hannah, who died in their yacht sinking off Sicily on Monday, said they were shocked and shocked.
They told of their “unspeakable sadness” as the last body – believed to be 18-year-old Hannah – was pulled from the sunken Bayes yacht on Friday.
“Their thoughts are with all those affected by this tragedy,” a statement on behalf of the family said. “They sincerely thank the Italian Coast Guard, the emergency services and all those who helped with the rescue.”
Italian officials are investigating the circumstances surrounding Monday’s sinking, which also claimed the lives of five other people on board.
Family and friends have paid tribute to Mr Lynch, who helped pioneer a form of artificial intelligence, and his daughter, who just received a degree from Oxford University.
“Mike was the smartest, most caring man I knew,” said his close friend Andrew Kanter. “His passion for life, knowledge and the people around him was an immediate inspiration to everyone he met and he will be greatly missed.”
Hannah’s sister Esme described her as “endlessly caring, passionately crazy, unintentionally hilarious, and my most amazing, supportive and joyful sister and best friend.”
“She’s my little angel, my star,” she added.
Gracie Lea, a classmate of Hannah’s, recalled that she was “easy to love: genuine, focused, very smart, and genuinely kind. I will always remember her smile.”
She recently completed her A-levels and was offered a place to study English at Oxford University, The Times reported.
“We are all devastated by the news,” a spokesman for her school, Colonel Latimer’s in west London, said.
They added: “Our thoughts are with their families and everyone involved.”
PA averageAmong those killed in the disaster were Morgan Stanley International chairman Jonathan Bloomer and his charity trustee wife Judy.
In a statement, the Bloomer family called the couple “incredible people and an inspiration to many.”
Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo, his wife, jeweler Neda Morvillo, and the ship’s cook, Recaldo Thomas, also died in the disaster.
The 15 survivors include a one-year-old child and Hannah’s mother, Angela Bacares.
The gathering on Mr Lynch’s yacht came at the end of a long-running legal dispute over the sale of Mr Lynch’s company, Autonomy.
In June, he was acquitted of multiple fraud charges in the United States, for which he had previously faced twenty years in prison.
PA averageItalian authorities are still investigating the circumstances surrounding Monday’s incident.
In such cases, officials typically conduct an extensive investigation (called a “hypothesis”) to consider a range of possible criminal charges.
Speaking to BBC News, Italian police confirmed that an investigation was ongoing but that no charges had been laid.
The coast guard, on behalf of prosecutors, questioned the yacht’s captain, James Catfield, eight surviving crew members and passengers.
Rescuers described the search operation as “complicated” with divers limited to 12-minute underwater shift.
“It took five days of a long and detailed rescue operation in waters about 50 meters (about 164 feet) deep,” Italian firefighters said in a statement.
After reports emerged that the last body had been found, a Coast Guard vessel that had been at the wreck site for several hours could be seen returning to port.
Meanwhile, a helicopter landed nearby and divers took off their orange wetsuits at the dock.
A spokesman for the Italian Coast Guard said a decision on whether to recover the sunken yacht from the seabed was “not on the agenda” but would be made in the future.
According to divers from the search and rescue team, the ship was “almost intact” on the seabed.
Prosecutors are expected to hold a news conference Saturday morning.
