London school "incredibly shocked" former pupil among missing in Sicily

Hannah Lynch, and her father, technology businessman Mike Lynch, are unaccounted for after a superyacht sank off the coast of Sicily

Author: Seb CheerPublished 20th Aug 2024
Last updated 20th Aug 2024

The former school of Hannah Lynch, daughter of technology businessman Mike Lynch, has said staff are "incredibly shocked" that the 18-year-old and her father are missing in Sicily.

They're among six people unaccounted for after a superyacht was hit by a freak storm.

A spokesperson for Latymer Upper School in Hammersmith, west London, said: "We are all incredibly shocked by the news that Hannah and her father are among those missing in this tragic incident and our thoughts are with their family and everyone involved as we await further updates."

The six missing are feared to have died.

Vincenzo Zagarola of the Italian Coastguard said this was the working theory of officials on Sicily because it is believed the boat sank quickly and search and rescue efforts by sea and air have so far delivered no results.

He told the PA news agency: "We think they are still inside the boat, that is our very hard idea.

"Our search and rescue activity by sea and air has gone on for around 36 hours.

"Of course, we do not exclude that they are not inside the boat, but we know the boat sank quickly.

"We suppose that the six people missing may not have had time to get out of the boat."

Asked about the likelihood of them being alive, he replied: "Never say never, but reasonably the answer should be not."

Bayesian was moored around half-a-mile off the coast of Porticello when it sank at around 5am local time on Monday as the area was hit by a storm.

Italy's fire brigade Vigili del Fuoco said it is developing a plan to enter the wreckage of Bayesian, which is resting on the seabed off the coast at a depth of 50 metres.

It described the operation as "complex", with divers limited to 12-minute underwater shifts.

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