Italian divers are reportedly in a race against time to retrieve Mike Lynch’s stashed hard drives from the wreck of the Bayesian superyacht before foreign intelligence services can access them.
The tragic sinking of the £30 million superyacht, owned by Darktrace founder Mike Lynch, claimed the lives of seven people last month. Among the victims were Mr. Lynch and his 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 recovered any personal items from the shipwreck. However, Italian special force divers have reportedly recovered crucial video equipment that could shed light on how the Bayesian sank.
According to reports from La Repubblica, Mr. Lynch kept two encrypted hard drives in a safe due to concerns about storing sensitive documents in the cloud. 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 suggesting he had access to intelligence material. While Mr. Lynch co-founded cybersecurity company Darktrace, which 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 showed that the victims had no water in their lungs, raising concerns that they may have been conscious as the yacht sank.
As investigations continue into the cause of the tragedy, doctors in Palermo are exploring whether the victims’ deaths were due to drowning or lack of oxygen in the cabin. All the victims were passengers except for the yacht’s chef Recaldo Thomas.