Italian divers are reportedly in a rush to recover Mike Lynch’s hidden hard drives from the wreckage of the Bayesian superyacht before foreign intelligence services can seize them.
The Bayesian, a £30million superyacht owned by Darktrace founder Mike Lynch, tragically sank last month in just 16 minutes after being hit by a violent downburst, resulting in the loss of seven lives.
Among the victims were Mr. Lynch, his 18-year-old daughter, Morgan Stanley International president Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judith, New York lawyer Chris Morvillo and his partner Neda, and chef Recaldo Thomas.
Investigators from Palermo have not yet found any personal items from the shipwreck, but according to The Telegraph, Italian special force divers have recovered crucial video equipment that could shed light on the sinking of the Bayesian.
Reports from the Italian newspaper La Repubblica suggest that Mr. Lynch kept two encrypted hard drives in a safe due to his distrust of the cloud for storing controversial documents. The media outlet also mentioned that some of his clients included MI5, the US National Security Agency, and the Israeli secret service.
Sources close to Mr. Lynch’s family have denied any evidence that he had access to intelligence material. Although Mr. Lynch co-founded Darktrace, a cybersecurity company that employed intelligence officers, he had not been involved in the company’s operations for several years.
Post-mortem examinations conducted on the victims in Sicily revealed that all but one had been trapped below deck when they died. Autopsies also indicated that the victims had no water in their lungs, raising concerns that they may have been conscious as the yacht sank.
While the bodies of the victims have been repatriated, doctors in Palermo are still investigating whether their deaths were caused by drowning or lack of oxygen in the cabin. All the victims were passengers except for the yacht’s chef Recaldo Thomas.