Bayesian superyacht sinking: tycoon Mike Lynch’s sunken ship’s safe ‘may contain intelligence data’

Bodies of Mike Lynch and daughter Hannah airlifted to family after Bayesian superyacht sinks

My colleague Tom Watling reports:

The former captain of the Baysian superyacht says he has spoken to all the surviving crew members to find out the circumstances surrounding the sinking.

Stephen Edwards said all the crew on deck tried to rescue as many passengers as they could, but going down towards the flooded lower part of the yacht “would have meant certain death”.

“They’re not doing too well,” the former captain told The Telegraph.

“The shock of what happened is still prevalent. People are still processing what happened, how it happened and how suddenly it happened.”

Tech billionaire Mike Lynch, his 18-year-old daughter Hannah and five others were killed when a downburst similar to a small tornado tore through the Baysian.

Chef Recardo Thomas, Morgan Stanley International Bank Chairman Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy, and Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda were also victims of the Aug. 19 tragedy.

According to Italian news agency La Repubblica, autopsies of four of the victims appeared to have suffocated in bubbles containing carbon dioxide, raising the chilling possibility that they may have been conscious after the yacht sank.

Fifteen people, including Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacalez, survived and were rescued by a nearby yacht.

In Italy, waterspouts could be packed with winds of up to 200 kilometers (124 miles) per hour, and downbursts could produce gusts of around 150 kilometers (90 miles) per hour.

Statistics show downbursts are occurring more frequently across the country, which Mercari said may be linked to global warming.

Storms and heavy rain have battered Italy in recent days after weeks of scorching heat.

“Sea surface temperatures around Sicily are around 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit), nearly three degrees warmer than normal, which creates an enormous source of energy contributing to these storms,” ​​said Italian climatologist Luca Mercal.

“So we can’t say this is all due to climate change, but we can say there is an amplifying effect.”

Last May, a similar freak storm sank a tourist boat on Lake Maggiore in northern Italy, killing four people.

The country’s diverse geology makes it prone to floods and landslides, and it is surrounded by rapidly warming oceans, making it vulnerable to increasingly powerful storms.

TMC Marine, a company that specializes in “planning and executing high-risk maritime operations, and investigating and resolving major maritime incidents and disputes,” has arrived in Porticello.

Freeing the Baysian superyacht is a delicate operation that will require a barge with a crane and is expected to cost as much as £15 million, and local residents have complained about the impact.

“When will it be restored?” one fisherman asked workers, according to La Repubblica.

“We would prefer these operations end as soon as possible,” another person added.

He pointed to a 200-metre radius that remains off-limits to sailing and is constantly monitored by the coast guard.

“The community is preparing for the Feast of Our Lady of Light,” an employee at a nearby bar added, referring to the October holiday.

“On that day, a painting of the Virgin Mary, the symbol of the village, will be carried out of the church by the hands of believers and then hundreds of boats will be set sailing out to sea.”

The inquest heard Mike Lynch’s co-accused, Stephen Chamberlain, died in hospital three days after being hit by a car on a country road.

Chamberlain, a former vice president of finance at Mike Lynch’s software company Autonomy, was running at the time, said his lawyer, Gary Linsenberg.

Coroner Caroline Jones said at the inquest in Alconbury that his medical cause of death was recorded as “traumatic head injury”.

Navy divers have recovered a hard drive from the Baysian’s video surveillance system, which they hope will shed light on the superyacht’s final moments before its tragic sinking.

In the engine room was a hard disk containing parameters relating to electric and thermal propulsion.

“We hope to read something from the media,” investigators told La Repubblica newspaper, adding that “unfortunately these are standard models that cannot withstand water or pressure.”

The 700-ton sailing vessel, which sank within minutes, did not have black boxes – there was no need for them as it was not a commercial cruise ship.

Darktrace will stop public trading at the end of September after setting a target date for the completion of a major private equity acquisition.

Private equity group Thoma Bravo in April struck a deal to buy Darktrace, co-founded by Mike Lynch, for around $5.31 billion (£4.3 billion).

This marks one of the largest privatizations of a London-listed company in recent years and means Darktrace will be removed from the FTSE 100 on October 1st.

Founded in 2013 and based in Cambridge, Darktrace is a cybersecurity company best known for using artificial intelligence to scan IT networks for hacks and data leaks.

The update comes after Poppy Gustafsson stepped down as chief executive in early September amid the acquisition.

Gustafson helped found the Cambridge-based company in 2013 with Autonomy founder Mike Lynch.

Mr Lynch and his daughter Hannah were among seven people killed when the Baysian superyacht sank off the coast of Sicily last month.

According to Italy’s second-largest newspaper, La Repubblica, divers are searching the ocean floor for Mike Lynch’s high-tech hard drive before it falls into enemy hands.

A source told the paper that the disk contained “an impressive digital archive of an IT entrepreneur whose clients include Britain’s MI5, the US NSA and Israeli government agencies”.

The Italian newspaper reported that the “Superdrive” is protected by “state-of-the-art encryption.”

The Sun reported that these drives may now be targeted by hostile intelligence agencies in Russia, China and Iran looking to steal valuable secrets.