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Our special correspondent Liu Haoran ● Yan Qing

According to the British "Guardian" report on the 20th, the British luxury yacht "Bayes" was hit by a storm in the northwest waters of Sicily, Italy in the early morning of the 19th local time, and the ship sank in a short time. As of press time, the accident has caused 1 death and 6 missing, including software industry giant, well-known entrepreneur Mike Lynch, known as the "British Bill Gates", and his daughter Hannah, Morgan Stanley International Chairman Jonathan Blumer and his wife Judy Blumer, and Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Movillo and his wife Neda. Fifteen people on the yacht were rescued, including Mike Lynch's wife and yacht owner Angela Bacares. Italian diving rescuers are trying to enter the sunken ship to search for traces of the missing persons.

On August 14, the Bayes set sail from Milazzo Port, Sicily, Italy, carrying 12 tourists and 10 crew members. After passing through the Aeolian Islands north of Sicily, it dropped anchor in the waters near Santa Flavia, a seaside fishing village in Palermo, Sicily, on the 18th. The Guardian reported that a storm occurred in the sea area where the yacht was located on the 19th, and a highly destructive "waterspout" was formed. According to Reuters, the captain of a civilian ship near the yacht at the time said that the wind on the sea was very strong, and he tried his best to control the ship to avoid a collision with the Bayes. Rescuers said that the mast of the Bayes broke in the storm, and a large amount of seawater seemed to flow into the yacht from the stern or bow in a short period of time, causing the hull to rise and sink within a few minutes.

Shortly after the yacht sank, a Dutch ship found a life raft on the sea with 15 survivors, including three seriously injured and one slightly injured. In an interview, 36-year-old survivor Charlotte Gronski said with lingering fear that she was awakened by "lightning and thunder at sea and violent shaking of the hull", "as if the end of the world had come". As the hull was flooded and the power was cut off, the cabin fell into darkness, surrounded by heart-wrenching screams and cries for help. Gronski desperately lifted his one-year-old daughter above his head, and the mother and daughter were rescued together. The only dead person found so far has been confirmed to be the chef on the yacht. British Ambassador to Italy Edward Llewellyn has also visited the survivors' resettlement hotel and talked with them.

The Guardian reported that the Italian Coast Guard quickly dispatched several rescue boats and helicopters to carry out operations after the incident. The Coast Guard said that the yacht had sunk to a depth of about 49 meters underwater, and a large amount of furniture on the boat blocked the access to the cabin, making the search extremely difficult. An underwater rescue force consisting of 19 divers is diving into the shipwreck site in groups, trying to enter the cabin through the cracks on the yacht's hull. As of 2 p.m. local time on the 20th, the underwater rescue operation has not made any progress. Rescuers said that the missing people "have little hope of survival."

According to reports from the BBC, The Sun and other media on the 20th, the shipwrecked "Bayes" was a super yacht costing 14 million pounds (about 129 million yuan) and manufactured by the Italian company Perini Navi. The name of the ship was taken from Lynch's doctoral thesis research direction "Bayes' Theorem". The ship is 55.9 meters long, 11.51 meters wide, and has a mast height of 75 meters, ranking "second in the world" in height.

The Guardian reported that the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said that the waterspouts that hit yachts are rotating columns of air and water mist, with the same characteristics as land tornadoes, and are usually "accompanied by strong winds, large waves, hail and lightning." Although yachts are generally more difficult to capsize than small boats, they can capsize when they are hit by wind or waves with enough force to push the mast of the ship parallel to the water surface.

This shipwreck has attracted the attention of media from many countries, largely because of Mike Lynch. Lynch, 59, is a legend in the field of software technology and investment in the UK. In the 1980s, he founded his first company while studying for a doctorate, and the 2,000 pounds of start-up capital was obtained by him when he negotiated with others in a bar. In 1996, Lynch co-founded the software company Autonomy, which quickly became one of the top 100 listed companies in the UK and was called the "technological leader" of the Cambridge Science Park "Silicon Marsh" (equivalent to Silicon Valley in the United States).

In 2011, Lynch sold Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard for $11 billion. In 2012, Hewlett-Packard claimed that Lynch's side had serious "false statements and accounting problems" in the acquisition, artificially raising the market value of Autonomy. Lynch was involved in a dispute that lasted for more than ten years. Until March of this year, Lynch and Chamberlain, the former vice president of finance of Autonomy, appeared in court in San Francisco, USA. They were charged with more than ten counts including wire fraud and securities fraud. In June 2024, after a long trial, Lynch was finally acquitted. In an interview with the BBC afterwards, he said that his "innocence" was exchanged for "sky-high legal fees." It is reported that when the storm hit, the Lynches and their financial and legal advisers were on the boat celebrating the "hard-earned acquittal."

According to Reuters, the bad news about Chamberlain was released almost simultaneously with the news of Lynch's disappearance. A few hours after the news of the shipwreck, it was reported that Chamberlain was seriously injured in a car accident in Cambridgeshire, England last week and died after failed rescue efforts.