A picture of Hannah and her father Mike Lynch was shared on Friday
Tributes have been paid to 18-year-old Hannah Lynch, after divers recovered what is believed to be her body in the wreckage of a luxury yacht which sank off Sicily.
Hannah was the last person unaccounted for after the luxury yacht Bayesian foundered during a freak storm off the Italian fishing village of Porticello, east of Palermo, claiming seven lives in total.
Friends have described her as a “warm and beautiful soul”, while teachers praised her “sky-high intellectual ability”.
The body of her father, tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, was recovered from the shipwreck earlier this week.
The family released a picture of the two on Friday.
A total of 15 people survived, including a one-year-old child and Hannah’s mother, Angela Bacares.
Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer, his wife Judy Bloomer, Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo, his wife Neda Morvillo and the boat’s chef Recaldo Thomas all died in the disaster.
Rescuers described the operation, which has been ongoing since Monday, as “complex”, with divers limited to 12-minute underwater shifts.
After reports emerged that the final body had been found, a coastguard vessel which had been at the site of the shipwreck for hours could be seen back in the port.
Meanwhile, a helicopter landed nearby as divers took off their orange suits on the quayside.
A decision on whether to raise the sunken yacht from the seabed is “not on the agenda” but will be in the future, a spokesperson from the Italian Coastguard has said.
The ship was “practically intact” on the seabed, according to divers on the search and rescue team.
Image source, PA Media
An Italian fire service dive team pictured returning to port on Friday
Hannah Lynch had recently finished her A-levels and had been offered a place to study English at the University of Oxford, according to the Times.
“We are all incredibly shocked by the news,” a spokesperson for London’s Latymer Upper School in Hammersmith, where Hannah was a former pupil, said.
“Our thoughts are with their family and everyone involved,” they added.
