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Teenager Hannah Lynch had promised her parents she would save them if anything happened while they were swimming, a crew member of the superyacht Bayesian has revealed.
Hannah, 18, died with six others, including her father, the multimillionaire tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, when the Bayesian sank off the coast of Porticello in Sicily.
Sasha Murray, the yacht’s chief stewardess, issued an emotional statement speaking of the teenager’s “deep and loving” connection with her father and her mother, Angela Bacares.
Murray, the first survivor of the sinking to comment publicly, described the teenager, whose body was the last to be recovered from the wreckage of the boat, as “a diamond”.
Hannah Lynch, 18, died in the Bayesian sinking off the coast of Sicily.
She said: “those who knew her will know that Hannah was a diamond in a sea of stars. Bright, beautiful and always shining.
“What most people may not have seen was the extraordinarily strong, deep, and loving relationship she shared with her parents, whom she adored more than anything.
“While swimming with them, she often said if anything ever happened she would save them. I have no doubt that the Irish, Latina fire that burns in her soul kept that spirited determination alive.”
Mother survived yacht sinking
Bacares, who also had an older daughter, Esme, with Lynch, was among the 15 survivors of the sinking and is being treated in hospital.
A talented student, Hannah Lynch scored 100% in her English Literature GCSE and was a scholar at Latymer Upper School, west London, where she was a regular prize-winner.
She had won a place at the University of Oxford to read English and joined friends and family on the Bayesian after receiving her A-level results last week.
The fifth day of the search and recovery operation, after the luxury yacht Bayesian sank in a storm while moored about a kilometre off the coast of Porticello, Sicily. Photo / Getty Images
She and other guests had gathered on board the superyacht to celebrate Lynch’s acquittal on fraud charges in a long-running case in San Francisco.
Italian investigators revealed on Saturday that five of the passengers who died on the superyacht were found in one cabin where they had gathered in an apparent attempt to escape.
The five were Lynch, Jonathan Bloomer, the chairman of Morgan Stanley International bank, his wife Judy Bloomer, Chris Morvillo, a partner at Clifford Chance, the legal firm who represented Lynch, and his wife Neda Morvillo.
Hannah Lynch’s body was found in another cabin.
The seventh victim was Recaldo Thomas, a Canadian boat cook, whose body was recovered at the scene on Monday.
James Cutfield, the New Zealander who was captain of the yacht, was questioned for two hours by investigators last week.
Mike Lynch was ‘riveting’
In a tribute to Lynch, a close family friend from Suffolk recalled being “daunted” the first time she met him.
Susannah Gurdun said: “I first met Mike at a dinner party in Suffolk. I knew in advance that I was being placed next to some important big tech corporate alpha male … and frankly I was daunted. The man sounded terrifying. What on earth would we talk about?
“Within a minute of sitting down, however, all my fears evaporated. Because of course I discovered that Mike is so much more than the corporate cliche. He was riveting. He was funny, and kind, and endlessly interesting; capable of talking about anything and everything.
“Sadly, I cannot actually remember what we discussed that night … but I know that it had nothing whatsoever to do with technology or companies or stocks or litigation. It would have been ideas. Ideas and people – and what makes a person tick.”
She said Lynch was “wonderful with children” and recalled him explaining to her children “the physics of why the sky went pink at sunset”, and telling them stories while on holiday with her family in Spain.
A vibrant, loving family
“I am not surprised to learn that, more recently, Hannah was showing serious literary promise. It is beyond tragic that we will never know where her own particular brilliance might have led, but I still feel blessed to have shared that time with them in Spain,” she said.
The Bayesian superyacht, which sunk off the coast of Sicily.
“Not just because I witnessed Mike’s incredible storytelling; but because I was given a chance of understanding what that moment said about all four of them as a united vibrant loving family.
“To those of us who knew him in that way, this family achievement – in partnership with Angela – was every bit as special and beautiful as the ones he pulled off in the world of tech and science.
