SURVIVOR’S MESSAGE
‘There are deaths’ Frantic text message sent by Bayesian survivor Ayla Ronald after escape from sinking superyacht
Footage shows divers scouring plans of the sunken boat
A LAWYER sent a text saying "there are deaths" after she escaped from the superyacht Bayesian when it sank off the coast of Sicily.
Ayla Ronald survived the horror tragedy that killed the boat's chef and has left six missing, including Brit entrepreneur Mike Lynch.
15
15
15
15
15
15
15
The £14m luxury vessel sank to the bottom of the Mediterranean after it was hit by a tornado at about 5am yesterday.
Ayla was there celebrating Lynch's acquittal from fraud charges after he won a US trial in June relating to the billion-pound sale of his business Autonomy.
Her father Lin said Ayla, 36, text him yesterday saying "there are deaths", the Telegraph reported.
He said she was left "very shaken" by the sinking, the .
Read more on world news
The senior associate works for British multinational law firm Clifford Chance and works on commercial litigation.
The Kiwi also snapped the last picture taken from onboard the Bayesian, a beautiful orange sunset only hours before tragedy struck.
Ayla's partner Matthew Fletcher was also on board and was another survivor of the sinking in the tiny lifeboat that carried them to shore.
Another New Zealander who survived the ship's sinking was the captain James Catfield, 51.
Most read in The Sun
He told Italian media that they did not see the tornado coming.
Some 22 horrified passengers, made up of passengers and staff, screamed in fear as the mast snapped and the boat capsized in the vortex.
YACHT SINKS
Those on board said the mast collapsed in stormy weather causing glass to shatter everywhere and the boat to capsize.
Fifteen people were rescued in total, with most of them clinging to the small orange life-raft as they were pulled from the water.
Witness said a 12-minute waterspout had struck the boat, bringing a furious vortex against the vessel.
Others told Italian outlet Ansa that the anchor was down when the storm hit on Monday morning, causing the ship to lose its balance.
15
15
15
15
Luca Cari, head of the local Sicilian Fire Brigade, told local media that his teams are furniture blocking the way to the cabins.
He said: "The spaces inside the ship are very small and if you encounter an obstacle it is very complicated to move forward, just as it is very difficult to find alternative routes."
Divers are only able to stay underwater for 10 minutes at a time, but they have described the visibility as currently good.
The boat is sitting 50m below the surface on the ocean floor practically in tact but with the hull tilted at a 90 degree angle.
Search and Rescue have pledged to do everything they can to recover any more bodies in the boat with expert Brit divers now heading to join the search.
The divers are now planning how to remove the blockages and get to where they fear the missing passengers may be.
Specialist divers have been deployed from the UK government's Marine Accident Investigation Branch to help.
Although the yacht is lying "practically intact" on its side at the bottom of the sea, rescuers have been struggling to get into it.
Lynch, previously dubbed "the British Bill Gates", was hosting a party on the boat.
The business tycoon - worth an estimated £852million - was surrounded by members of his legal firm and company Invoke Capital to celebrate a US jury clearing him of fraud earlier this summer.
He was extradited to the US in 2023 over the £8.5billion sale of his software firm Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard in 2011 and was accused of inflating the company’s value.
The dad-of-two had spent a year under house arrest in the States.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
He was cleared of 16 counts of wire fraud, securities fraud and conspiracy, following a trial in San Francisco in June.
Lynch's 18-year-old daughter is also missing.
Who are the six still missing from the Bayesian yacht tragedy?
By Ellie Doughty, Foreign News Reporter
THE BAYESIAN superyacht was hosting a lavish party for 12 guests, with 10 crew also onboard.
After 15 people were rescued from the water on Monday, six people remain missing and one has been found dead.
Italian authorities said the man recovered near the yacht wreckage was the chef working onboard.
Four of the missing are British and two are American.
Mike Lynch, 59, and his daughter Hannah, 18, are among the four Brits lost at sea.
International chairman of bank giant Morgan Stanley, Brit Jonathan Bloomer, 70, is also missing along with his wife Judy.
As is top New York lawyer Chris Morvillo, a solicitor at major firm Clifford Chance who worked for Mike Lynch, and his wife Neda.
15
15
15
15
Topics