A survivor of the ill-fated Bayesian shared a troubling detail with her father, as she remains "deeply shaken" after surviving the superyacht's sinking off the coast of Sicily. Ayla Ronald, a senior associate at the law firm Clifford Chance, was among the 22 people on the British-flagged ship when a tornado hit the area where it was anchored around 5 a.m. on Monday.
Ronald, 36, and her partner Matthew Fletcher were invited aboard the Bayesian to celebrate tech tycoon Mike Lynch's acquittal in "one of Silicon Valley's largest-ever fraud cases" alongside his friends and family. Six people, including Lynch, his daughter Hannah lynch are still missing and are feared dead.
Chilling Text to Her Father
"Ayla is a lawyer who is part of the legal team that was invited to go sailing as a result of the success in the recent United States court case," Ronald's father Lin Ronald told the Telegraph.
"I have texted my daughter and she hasn't given me any updates about missing personnel or saved personnel," he said.
"She has only said to me that there are deaths, and she and her partner are alive."
According to the New Zealand Herald, Ayla's phone was the only one with a charged battery, and she was helping with communication with the first responders.
Lin told the outlet that his daughter is "extremely shaken" after the incident.
Originally from Christchurch, New Zealand, she studied at the University of Otago before relocating to London, where she has worked for several years.
"We are in shock and deeply saddened by this tragic incident," Clifford Chance said in a statement.
"Our thoughts are with our Partner, Christopher Morvillo, and his wife Neda who are among the missing, and with their families."
"Our utmost priority is providing support to the family as well as our colleague Ayla Ronald, who together with her partner, thankfully survived the incident," the statement continued. "Our thoughts extend to the other passengers and crew and all those affected."
Chances of Survival Bleak
Lynch, his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, Jonathan Bloomer, chairman of Morgan Stanley International, and his wife Judy are among the six individuals still unaccounted for.
Angela Bacares, the yacht's owner and Lynch's wife, was one of the 15 people who were rescued.
A body, believed to be that of the ship's chef, Canadian-born Thomas Recaldo, has been recovered from the wreckage.
Lynch's three-month trial took place in a federal court in San Francisco, focusing on accusations that he had manipulated the revenue of his software company, Autonomy, when selling it to Hewlett-Packard for $11 billion in 2011.
Less than a year later, the U.S. tech company had to reduce Autonomy's valuation by $8.8 billion. On June 6, a jury acquitted the 59-year-old Irish-born Lynch of all 15 charges of conspiracy and wire fraud.
