Body of Lynch's daughter retrieved from Sicily yacht wreck, ending search mission

By Guglielmo Mangiapane and Giselda Vagnoni

PORTICELLO, Italy (Reuters) -Italian divers retrieved the body of British tech magnate Mike Lynch's 18-year-old daughter, Hannah, who was the last person still unaccounted for after the family's luxury yacht sank this week off Sicily.

Seven people, including Lynch himself, died when the 56-metre-long (184-foot) boat, the Bayesian, capsized during a fierce, pre-dawn storm on Monday off Porticello, near Palermo.

Fifteen people survived, including Lynch's wife, whose company owned the Bayesian, and the yacht's captain.

As the rescue operation came to an end, attention switched to the official investigation into the disaster.

The public prosecutor's office of Termini Imerese, headed by Ambrogio Cartosio, is looking into possible charges of negligent shipwreck and multiple homicide, judicial sources told Reuters.

The captain James Cutfield and the other survivors have been questioned by the coast guard on behalf of prosecutors. None of them have commented publicly on how the ship went down.

So far, nobody has been placed under formal investigation.

Cartosio is due to hold a news conference on Saturday.

Hannah Lynch's body was discovered on Friday by divers who have been scouring the submerged vessel for the past five days. The five other dead passengers were recovered on Wednesday and Thursday, while the body of the only crew member who died, onboard chef Recaldo Thomas, was found on Monday.

"The Lynch family is devastated, in shock and is being comforted and supported by family and friends," a spokesperson for the family said on Friday, in their first public comment since the yacht sank.

"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," the statement said.

The fire brigade said their team of more than 40 specialists had carried out 123 dives to the wreck of the Bayesian, which is lying apparently intact on its side at a depth of 50 metres (164 feet).

The sinking has puzzled naval marine experts who say a boat like the Bayesian, built by Italian high-end yacht manufacturer Perini, should have withstood the storm and in any case should not have sunk as quickly as it did.

COMPLEX SALVAGE OPERATION

Giovanni Costantino, CEO of The Italian Sea Group, which owns Perini, told Reuters the shipwreck was the result of a string of "indescribable, unreasonable errors" made by the crew, and ruled out any design or construction failings.

Pulling the Bayesian out of the sea may help investigators determine what happened, but the operation is likely to be complex and costly. 

Nick Sloane, a South African engineer who led the operation to salvage the Costa Concordia cruise liner that sank in 2012, said in Italian media interviews on Friday that the operation would cost up to 15 million euros ($16.7 million).

He told daily La Repubblica that salvaging the yacht would take six to eight weeks, including preparation work, and would have to be completed by mid-October, without specifying the reasons for the timing. 

Bringing the yacht to the surface will have to be done "very, very slowly", and might take a couple of days, he said. 

Lynch, 59, was one of the UK's best-known tech entrepreneurs and had invited friends to join him on the yacht to celebrate his acquittal in June in a U.S. fraud trial.

Among those who also died in the wreck were Lynch's lawyer Chris Morvillo and Jonathan Bloomer, a Morgan Stanley banker who had appeared as a character witness in the case on his behalf.

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(Reporting by Guglielmo Mangiapane in Porticello and Giselda Vagnoni in RomeAdditional reporting by Giulia SegretiWriting by Crispian Balmer and Alvise ArmelliniEditing by Sharon Singleton and Frances Kerry)