Hannah Lynch’s family have said they are are ‘devastated and in shock’ and suffering ‘unspeakable grief’ after she and her tech tycoon father both died in the Bayesian yacht tragedy.
The 18-year-old student, who had won a place to study English Literature at Oxford, was the sixth and final missing person after the £30million vessel sank on Monday during a vicious storm off the coast off Sicily.
Seven people are now confirmed dead and officials have begun a manslaughter investigation.
The family released heartbreaking new photos of Hannah and Mike Lynch together as they thanked the local emergency services.
A spokesperson said: ‘The Lynch family is devastated, in shock and is being comforted and supported by family and friends. Their thoughts are with everyone affected by the tragedy.
‘They would like to sincerely thank the Italian coastguard, emergency services and all those who helped in the rescue.
Hannah with her father Mike Lynch. Both tragically died in the sinking of his superyacht
Hannah was a pupil at Latymer Upper school in West London and had won a place at Oxford to study English Literature
Dr Lynch with his wife Angela, who managed to escape from Monday’s disaster
Photograph of Hannah Lynch and the family’s dog ‘Faucet, which has been issued by her loved ones
Search teams leave for the wreck site of the Bayesian this morning
People have been anxiously waiting for news at the harbour in Porticello
The Bayesian sank on August 19 off the coast of Sicily amid severe stormy weather
‘Their one request now is that their privacy be respected at this time of unspeakable grief.’
Meanwhile, the teenager was hailed by a family friend as ‘one of our brightest stars whose future held so much promise’.
And classmates at Latymer Upper School in West London described the teenager as ‘the most special friend anyone could ever ask for’ who possessed a ‘ferocious intelligence’.
More tributes have also been paid to Dr Lynch, with one close friend and former colleague describing him as ‘the most brilliant mind and caring person I have ever known’.
Just as happened with the discovery of the other bodies, the bells of the local church in Porticello, Santa Maria del Lume, rang out over the tiny harbour in a mark of respect as a fire brigade launch set out to the dive site with its lights flashing.
Just after midday local time, a body bag could just be seen being loaded onto the dive platform at the back of a fire brigade launch above the site where the yacht sank. The launch then began its slow, sombre journey back to shore.
The Bayesian capsized during a ‘victory trip’ to celebrate Dr Lynch’s acquittal on fraud charges in the US, and the tragedy also claimed the lives of his business partner Jonathan Bloomer, 70, his wife Judy, 71, and Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo, 59, and his wife Neda, 57.
Italian authorities are now ‘investigating shipwreck and multiple counts of culpable homicide’, similar to the charge of manslaughter in the UK.
Among those paying tribute to Hannah today was her friend Katya Lewis, who said: ‘The love Hannah had for everything she held dear was passionate and pure. She had a warm and beautiful soul. Being with Hannah made me feel whole and happy. She is the most special friend anyone could ask for and I will always love Hannah.’
Gracie Lea, a Latymer classmate, said: ‘When I think of Hannah, I think of poetry, sunshine, and her beautiful eyes. She was easy to love: sincere, dedicated, fiercely intelligent and genuinely kind. I’ll always remember her smiling.’
Also joining the tributes was Jon Mitropoulos-Monk, Latymer’s Head of English, who described her as ‘one of the best English students in the country’ who ‘lit up the classroom with her energy, passion for learning and sheer intelligence’.
A reverential silence descended among locals and journalists as the launch carrying Hannah’s body came slowly into the harbour this morning.
A local couple, who asked not to be named, said they had come to ‘pay their respects’ in the wake of the tragedy.
‘Nothing like this has ever happened here before,’ said the local woman in her 30s with tears in her eyes. There have been fishing boats lost before of course, but none that I can remember in my lifetime.
‘What happened here is incredible and we will remember this week for many many years’.
Following the recovery of Hannah’s body, the work of the emergency services is over for now and the focus will shift to salvaging the boat itself, but that process is expected to take weeks, rather than days.
The manslaughter investigation is being led by Ambrogio Cartosio, head of the prosecutor’s office in the nearby town of Termini Imerese, with more details expected to be revealed at a press conference tomorrow morning.
Causing a shipwreck is a separate offence under the Italian penal code and those found guilty of provoking or causing a shipwreck could face up to 12 years in prison.
Investigators have been examining videos and photographs taken on the night of the storm showing the last minutes of the ship, as well as CCTV footage of the port.
Italian news website Palermo Today said coastguard officials have visited all of the homes and public places with surveillance cameras pointed out to sea in the area.
The Prosecutor’s Office are also reviewing the actions and decisions made by the Bayesian’s Captain James Cutfield, 51, and Matthew Griffith, 22, who is understood to be the first officer, according to Palermo Today.
It has been reported that Mr Cutfield was quizzed ‘at length’ for at least two hours by the prosecution team.
Tributes have been pouring in for the victims of the tragedy, including her father Dr Lynch, once dubbed the British Bill Gates, after his body was recovered from one of the vessel’s cabins early yesterday.
Banking boss Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy died in the disaster
Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda Morvillo are also among the dead
The body of chef Recaldo Thomas (pictured) was discovered on the day of the sinking
Dr Lynch’s was the fifth body to be found in the lower deck of the ill-fated yacht which lies on the seabed at a depth of 164ft half a mile from the port in Porticello.
But Hannah’s body was not discovered until today, with a spokesman for the Italian Coastguard saying the search for her body had not been ‘easy or quick’.
Vincenzo Zagarola said: ‘From the first moment it has not been easy or quick to inspect the boat.
‘Think of an 18-storey building full of water.’
Dr Lynch’s wife Angela Bacares, who was among 15 people rescued in ‘apocalyptic’ scenes from the sinking, had been anxiously waiting for news of her husband and daughter.
Italian media has reported that the victims were found on the opposite side of the yacht to their cabins which suggested they may have been trying to escape the incoming water by reaching the higher ground.
The superyacht was said to have gone down by the bow and settled on its starboard on a tilt.
‘We found them all on that side…we had maps with the layout of the cabins and the positions of the guests, and that’s not where we recovered them,’ a source said.
As the search continued last night tributes continued to be paid to for those who have been confirmed dead.
The Bloomers’ now orphaned children released a heartbreaking statement in which they said the loss of their parents was an ‘an unimaginable grief to shoulder’.
‘Our parents were incredible people and an inspiration to many, but first and foremost they were focused on and loved their family and spending time with their new grandchildren.
‘Together for five decades, our only comfort is that they are still together now,’ they said.
The chairman of children’s charity the NSPCC described Mr Bloomer, the former honorary treasurer of the organisation, as ‘a very kind individual’,
Speaking about the Morgan Stanley International bank chairman and his wife, Neil Berkett said: ‘We remember Jonathan from his time with us as a very kind individual with a great sense of humour and Judy as formidable and passionate.’
Tributes to Dr Lynch were also paid by senior industry figures who applauded his contribution to the world of tech.
David Tabizel, Dr Lynch’s co-founder at Autonomy, said: ‘The world has lost a genius. His family have lost a giant of a man.’ ‘He was exhausting, exhilarating & incisive… Britain’s Bill Gates? Not really. Britain’s Steve Jobs. The father of modern AI.’
The Bayesian’s captain, James Cutfield (pictured) has been questioned by officials carrying out an investigation into the tragedy
Mike Lynch with his wife, Angela, who was the yacht’s registered owner
Dr Lynch at Autonomy’s headquarters at Cambridge Business Park in 2000
Industry group TechUK also paid tribute calling him ‘a hugely significant and pioneering figure’ in the UK technology sector.
Lord Browne of Madingley described him as ‘the person who catalysed a breed of deep tech entrepreneurs in the UK’.
The chairman of BeyondNetZero said: ‘His ideas and his personal vision were a powerful contribution to science and technology in both Britain and globally.’ Dr Lynch’s close friend Brent Hoberman, the former chief executive of lastminute.com, described the disaster as a ‘Shakespearean sort of tragedy’.
He said: ‘We were all hoping for a miracle, we knew it was unlikely but you still hold out hope.’ ‘It’s just so unbelievably tragic for him to go through what he went through over the last 12 years, defending his name and not really living a full life, to now for his death to be confirmed is obviously incredibly sad.’
The family of the Morvillos, who have two daughters now orphaned, released a statement speaking of the ‘complete devastation’ felt by the their ‘tremendous loss’.
The bodies were informally identified when they were brought to shore and are expected to be formally identified, as under Italian law, by relatives after post-mortem examinations next week.
Their deaths bring the death toll to six after yacht’s Canadian chef Recaldo Thomas was found shortly after the ship went down in a storm at 5am.
In a separate incident, Dr Lynch’s co-defendant in his fraud trial, Stephen Chamberlain, died after being hit by a car while running in Cambridgeshire on Saturday.
Dr Lynch, who founded software giant Autonomy in 1996, was cleared in June of carrying out a massive fraud relating to its 11 billion dollar (£8.64 billion) sale to US company Hewlett Packard.
Mr Zagarola previously said a decision on whether to raise the sunken yacht from the seabed is ‘not on the agenda’, but will be in the future.
Giovanni Costantino, chief executive of the firm that built the yacht, said it was ‘absurd’ that passengers on the yacht were in their cabins.
He told the Times: ‘Why were (they) in their cabins?
‘Local fishermen saw the storm was coming, why did no-one on board the Bayesian realise?
‘From 3.50am, the captain had four minutes to get the passengers out of their cabins.’
He continued: ‘They should have jettisoned the anchor, started the engine, pointed the bows to the wind and put the keel down.
‘If they had done that, no-one on board would have been afraid, they would have been back to bed in an hour and ready to push on with their voyage.’
A coastguard boat sits on the water close to the sinking site off the coast of Sicily this morning
Italian fire service divers speak on a rescue boat this morning
A helicopter, remotely controlled underwater vehicles, naval units and cave divers have been used in the search.
The Bayesian was moored around half a mile off the coast of Porticello when it sank as the area was hit by a storm.
Its wreckage is resting on the seabed off the coast at a depth of 50 metres (164ft).
