The 18-year-old, who was due to start studying English at Oxford University next month, was the last person rescue divers were searching for in the wreckage of the Bayesian
Hannah Lynch’s older sister, Esme Lynch, has paid tribute to her late sibling after her body was recovered from the wreckage of the Bayesian yacht in Italy.
The 18-year-old, who was due to start studying English at Oxford University next month, was the last person rescue divers were searching for in the wreckage. Seven people died after the superyacht, belonging to Hannah’s father, British tech tycoon Mike Lynch, sank off the island of Sicily when a storm swept across the Mediterranean.
Hannah’s mother, Angela Bacares, was among 15 survivors rescued by a neaby a boat. But the tragedy has claimed the lives of seven people, including Mike and Hannah Lynch, the boat’s chef Recaldo Thomas, Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer and wife Judith Bloomer, a charity trustee, Clifford Chance lawyer Christopher Morvillo, and his wife Neda Morvillo.
Hannah’s heartbroken sister Esme Lynch said in a statement: “Hannah often burst into my bedroom and lay down with me. Sometimes beaming with a smile, sometimes cheeky, sometimes for advice. No matter what, she brought boundless love to me.
“She was endlessly caring, passionately mad, unintentionally hilarious and the most amazing, supportive and joyful sister and best friend to me. And on top of all this, she had even more love to give endlessly to all her friends and passion to give to her incredible studies and goals. She is my little angel, my star.”
Jon Mitropoulos-Monk, Head of English at Latymer Upper School, where Hannah attended, said: “I’ve never taught someone who combined sky-high intellectual ability with warmth and enthusiasm in the way Hannah did. She lit up the classroom with her energy, passion for learning and sheer intelligence (though never with a hint of arrogance).
“One of the best English students in the country, she scored 100% in her English Literature GCSE. By age 16, she’d read Joyce, Faulkner and Nabokov. Beyond that, she devoured the writings of Angela Carter, Joseph Conrad and John Donne. She loved literature, learning and life. She was so excited to start studying English at Oxford, a goal she had worked so hard towards.”
The Italian Coastguard said today they had located the sixth and final body during a search of the wreckage. A rescue boat carrying what is believed to be Hannah’s body returned to the port in Porticello at 1pm local time. The body was unloaded from the vessel and taken into an emergency tent for examination, before being taken to a local hospital.
A spokesperson for the Lynch family said: “The Lynch family is devastated, in shock and is being comforted and supported by family and friends. 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. Their one request now is that their privacy be respected at this time of unspeakable grief.”
A manslaughter probe is now being launched following the disaster, with Italian authorities saying they were “investigating shipwreck and multiple counts of culpable manslaughter.” The Prosecutor’s Office of Termini Imerese, led by Ambrogio Cartosio, is working to find why the luxury vessel capsized off the coast of Porticello, near Palermo.