Thrilling theories about the mysterious sinking of British billionaire Mike Lynch

Investigations into the sinking of the yacht carrying British billionaire Mike Lynch and his family are ongoing. And the vague, even absurd details of the accident are making the cause of the incident still quite unclear, and the subject of various speculations.

There were 22 people on board, 10 crew members and 12 passengers. Fifteen people were rescued, including nine crew members.

A team of Italian divers has found the body of the last person missing in the sunken yacht. A source close to the victim said the victim could be Mike Lynch's daughter, Hannah.

Along with the search for the bodies, more and more doubts are emerging surrounding the rather strange boat sinking above.

How could a 56m superyacht, with a 75m high aluminium mast (the tallest in the world today) that experts say has everything to withstand wind, lightning and large waves, sink in just a few minutes?

To date, very little is known about this tragic accident. The only clear evidence of the Bayesian’s sinking was captured on a surveillance camera at a villa on the Porticello harbor in Sicily, Italy.

Footage shows the ship's mast disappearing into the darkness of the rapidly intensifying storm. According to the villa's owner, the Bayesian sank within a minute.

The survivors are now staying in a hotel not far from the port, while waiting for prosecutors to arrive to learn what happened in the three to five minutes it took for the boat to sink.

At present, poor quality video footage and scant information from survivors still in shock do not clarify exactly what happened.

Hypotheses about the cause of the sinking

What plays a key role here is the nature of the bad weather that hit the area from the evening of August 19 to August 20.

Modern boats are typically built to high safety standards and are equipped with electronic navigation and communications systems and other emergency equipment. And they are unlikely to sink in bad weather.

However, at that moment the wind was stronger than expected. What hit the boat was probably a waterspout – a cyclone that forms over the sea and is becoming increasingly common in the Mediterranean due to rising water temperatures – or a very strong gust of wind that blew ashore and then moved horizontally at speeds that can exceed 100km/h.

That morning, a group of fishermen in Porticello reported seeing a waterspout in action for about 12 minutes. The biggest risk a ship faces when hit by a waterspout is that its mast will be broken.

The Bayesian's mast, capable of supporting 3,000 square metres of sail, is designed to withstand adverse weather conditions and was serviced four years ago.

With the first hypothesis being that the mast may have broken, experts believe this would have led to damage to the hull causing the ship to lose balance, capsize and sink.

However, according to a source, divers dived down to examine the wreck and found the mast intact, the hull unpunctured, the hatches tightly closed, and the windows intact.

Other hypotheses

Another hypothesis is that the speed and force of the water was so great that the emergency system on the Bayesian ship could not “seal” the ship when water began to pour in. Another possibility is that a giant wall of water lifted the stern of the ship, causing the bow to quickly sink to the seabed.

Meanwhile, the captain of another ship that was near Bayesian during the storm hypothesized that the combination of strong winds and the ship's large wind resistance – that is, the surface area exposed to the wind – would cause the superyacht to lose balance and take on water.

Another reason given is human error. Captains of extremely tall sailing ships often sail away from danger when there is strong wind. And anchoring outside the safe zone seems unwise.

According to Perini Navi, an Italian shipbuilder, the Bayesian is equipped with a so-called keel lift, a system that reduces the yacht’s depth by nearly 10 meters so it can easily enter shallower harbors. If for some reason the keel lifts instead of fully extending, this will affect the yacht’s stability in strong winds.

A series of strange coincidences

The stories of the passengers on board add to the mystery of this tragic shipwreck.

The superyacht belongs to Angela Bacares, the 57-year-old wife of British tech tycoon Mike Lynch, who went missing along with their 18-year-old daughter Hannah. His lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife, and Morgan Stanley chairman Jonathan Bloomer, are also missing.

It appears the party, held in Sicily, was to celebrate Lynch's recent acquittal in a fraud case. The businessman wanted to celebrate with those closest to him after a lawsuit that had dragged on for more than 10 years.

Since 2012, Lynch has been charged 15 times (once with conspiracy and 14 with fraud) for inflating the value of his startup, Autonomy, before selling it for $11.1 billion to US tech giant HP.

In June, a San Francisco court acquitted Lynch along with his friend Stephen Chamberlain, former Vice President of Finance at Autonomy.

But in a strange and absurd coincidence that has fueled countless conspiracy theories, Chamberlain died 48 hours before the Bayesian sank. He was run over by a car while jogging in Stretham, Cambridgeshire, England.

There are two main conspiracy theories circulating: one is that Lynch and Chamberlain were both murdered, although it is unclear who did it or why; and two is that Lynch's death was a staged act, and he fled the scene of the accident on a submarine.

These speculations, however wild, continue to circulate on social media.

A longtime friend of Lynch's, businessman Brent Hoberman, described the tragedy as "a Shakespeare play."

"A man who had spent 12 years of his life defending his name and had just been acquitted, set out to celebrate with those who had helped him win the case. But then the ship met with a disaster that only happened with a probability of one in a million."

Hoberman lamented the injustice of the sinking, but said he was clinging to hope for "a resounding second act" and said he was praying for a miracle. "God, what a grand finale that would be."

However, this possibility is as unlikely as some of the other conspiracy theories that have emerged surrounding the incident. Some British news outlets have even speculated that the missing people are still alive thanks to an “air bubble” inside the hull.