Two months after being cleared in a bruising legal battle over fraud charges, the British tech mogul Mike Lynch celebrated his freedom with a cruise. He invited his family, friends and part of his legal team on board his luxury sailing yacht, a majestic 180-foot vessel named Bayesian after the mathematical theorem around which he had built his empire. On Sunday night, after a tour of the Gulf of Naples, including Capri, and volcanic islands in the Eolian archipelago, the boat anchored half a mile off the Sicilian coast in Porticello, Italy.
But about 4 a.m., calamity unfolded. A violent and fast storm hit the area with some of the strongest winds locals said they had ever felt. Fabio Cefalu, a fisherman, said he saw a flare pierce the darkness shortly after 4. Minutes later, the yacht was underwater.
In all, 22 people were on board, 15 of whom were rescued. Six bodies had been recovered by Thursday, and one person was still missing. Rescuers said it was unlikely anyone would be found alive. It was a tragic and mystifying turn of events for Mr. Lynch, 59, who had spent years seeking to clear his name and was finally inaugurating a new chapter in his life.
Experts wondered how a $40 million yacht, so robust and stable could have been sunk by a storm near a port within minutes.
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