The father of a woman who was onboard the ill-fated superyacht which sank in Sicily has told how he received a heartbreaking message from her after she was rescued.
Lawyer Ayla Ronald, a senior associate at Clifford Chance, was one of the 22 people onboard the luxury vessel to celebrate the acquittal of the tech tycoon dubbed the ‘British Bill Gates’, Mike Lynch.
The businessman, from Essex, was facing up to two decades behind bars before a jury in San Francisco cleared him of numerous fraud charges linked to the sale of Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard for $11 billion (£8.64 billion) back in 2011.
Mike Lynch. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
Lynch, 59, said he was ‘elated’ after being cleared of the charges, but told the BBC he only managed it because of his staggering wealth.
In an eerie twist, his co-defendant in the trial, Stephen Chamberlain, was killed in Cambridgeshire last weekend.
To celebrate his victory in court following the lengthy legal battle which lasted for more than a decade, billionaire Lynch invited family and friends for a voyage on his £14 million yacht, Bayesian.
Chilling CCTV footage has since emerged which shows the boat ‘vanishing in 60 seconds’ as a waterspout tornado reportedly struck the yacht while it was anchored at port off the coast of Sicily at around 5am local time on Monday (19 August).
The body of the ship’s chef, Recaldo Thomas, was found in the water hours later.
Lynch, along with his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer, his wife Judy Bloomer, Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda Morvillo are still missing.
The mogul’s wife, Angela Bacares, 57, is among the 15 people who were rescued from the sinking yacht after escaping onto a lifeboat with the help of a heroic captain.
According to La Repubblica, she is in a wheelchair after suffering injuries to her feet that prevent her from walking.
Ayla Ronald, 36, also managed to escape with her life alongside her partner, Matthew Fletcher, when chaos erupted in the early hours of Monday as passengers reportedly woke up and realised the boat had tilted.
She is believed to have taken the last picture on the Bayesian showing a sunset just hours before it tragically sank following the freak weather incident.
The search for the six missing passengers continues. (ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP via Getty Images)
The lawyer’s father, Lin Ronald, explained that his daughter was a keen sailor who has ‘passed her captain’s ticket a few months ago in Greece’.
He then revealed the contents of the text messages he shared with Ayla following the fatal incident.
Lin told The Telegraph: “I have texted my daughter and she hasn’t given me any updates about missing personnel or saved personnel.
“She has only said to me that there are deaths, and she and her partner are alive.
“Ayla is a lawyer who is part of the legal team that was invited to go sailing as a result of the success in the recent United States court case.
“The only other information I’ve got is that Ayla’s phone is apparently the only one that’s had a battery, and so she’s been acting in some fashion as a co-ordinator with the medics.”
Ayla Ronald contacted her father shortly after being rescued. (Clifford Chance)
Lin also told the New Zealand Herald that Ayla was ‘very shaken’ following the ordeal, but added that she was ‘recovering’.
As the search for the remaining six passengers enters its pivotal third day, focus has fallen on the cause of the incident.
Italian investigators are now exploring the theory that the yacht was able to sink so quickly due to portholes and hatches being left open, as experts warned it would’ve drastically impacted how quickly water was able to enter the boat.
The editor of Sailing Today, Sam Jefferson, said: “I would have said that the boat got hit very hard by the wind, it was pinned over on its side.
“I imagine all the doors were open because it was hot, so there were enough hatches and doors open that it filled with water very quickly and sank like that. The reason it got pinned over so hard was because the mast is huge.”
The Italian Coastguard is still working under the assumption that the six missing passengers are still inside of the boat, with Vincenzo Zagarola explaining he believes they wouldn’t have had time to escape.
The majority of those onboard were reportedly in their cabins and rooms when horror struck.
Featured Image Credit: Clifford Chance/Perini Navi Press Office
