The 59-year-old is the founder of software company Autonomy and one of Britain’s most prominent tech entrepreneurs.
British tech mogul Mike Lynch is one of six people reported missing after a luxury yacht sank this morning during a storm near Palermo, Sicily, killing one person.
With 22 people on board, the 56-metre British-flagged sailboat “Paisian” sank off Porticello, a coastal town about 15 kilometres east of Palermo, at around 05:00 (04:00 Lisbon) today, following a violent storm, the coastguard said.
The yacht had 12 passengers and 10 crew members on board, most of them British, including Mike Lynch, nicknamed “Britain’s Bill Gates,” Italian Civil Protection Director Salvo told AFP.
The 59-year-old businessman, founder of software company Autonomy, is one of Britain’s most famous tech entrepreneurs.
His wife, Angela Bakaris, was rescued, a source close to the rescue operations said.
Fifteen people were rescued and seven people were initially reported missing – one crew member and six passengers, of British, North American and Canadian nationality. The body of one of the seven missing was later found in the wreckage of the yacht and recovered.
“Our priority is to cooperate with the ongoing search and provide all necessary support to the surviving passengers and crew,” the yacht’s British owner, Camper & Nicholsons, said in a statement.
The survivors, most of whom were British, included two French-British nationals, a Sri Lankan, a New Zealander and an Irishman, according to the press.
Port authorities have opened an investigation into the incident, which was caused by a water column hitting the yacht, according to Italian media reports.
The yacht was built in Tuscany in 2008 and restored in 2020, according to Agence France-Presse.
This type of yacht has the longest aluminium main mast in the world, measuring 75 metres.
