Mike Lynch's yacht was state-of-the-art and shouldn't sink so easily, expert says

• Tech tycoon Mike Lynch died in a yacht sinking near Palermo, Italy.
• An investigation is underway, with experts questioning how the state-of-the-art yacht sank.

A search-and-rescue expert said the superyacht disaster that killed Mike Lynch is difficult to comprehend — because the vessel never should have sunk.

Lynch, a British tech tycoon, was celebrating being acquitted of fraud with friends and family when the 183-foot ship sank during stormy weather near Palermo, Italy.

Of the 22 people on board, six people, including Lynch, have been confirmed dead.

15 people, including Lynch's wife, were rescued. Lynch's 18-year-old daughter remained unaccounted for as of Thursday afternoon local time.

An investigation into the cause of the incident is underway.

'Unsinkable'

Matthew Schanck is a maritime search-and-rescue consultant with 14 years of experience. He told Business Insider that his reaction to the sinking was "disbelief."

When the news of the sinking broke, Schanck said he envisioned a far smaller ship — "some sort of 40-foot yacht with a couple on board."

"That wouldn't have been as unusual or extraordinary," he said.

"It was really shocking. But what's more shocking is the fact that it's a modern, state-of-the-art superyacht, which would have been commercially certified and regulated by the Maritime Coastguard Agency," he said.

When the news of the sinking broke, Schanck said he envisioned a far smaller ship — "some sort of 40-foot yacht with a couple on board."

The superyacht was worth $40 million, The New York Times reported.

Giovanni Costantino is the CEO of The Italian Sea Group, which built the yacht. Speaking to Sky News, Costantino said the sinking sounded "like an unbelievable story, both technically and as a fact."

"Sailing ships, it is well known, are the safest in the most absolute sense," he said. They tend, he said, to be "unsinkable."

Though the cause of the sinking has not been established, authorities confirmed a strong storm had been in the area.

Witnesses told BBC News they saw a waterspout — an uncommon tornado-like column of wind and water — before the sinking.

"This tends to have been the accepted theory, that the vessel was hit by a waterspout and the crew didn't see it coming because it was nighttime and dark," Schanck said.

He said that while this scenario makes sense, it's not clear how witnesses would have noticed a waterspout if the crew didn't.

Speaking to The Times, Costantino said the ship had the second-tallest aluminum mast in the world, making it safe and secure.

However, he said that if any of the doors had been open during the storm, it could have taken on water more easily.

Correction: August 22, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misspelled the surname of the search-and-rescue consultant. It's Schanck, not Schank.