Morgan Stanley international chairman Jonathan Bloomer is feared dead after the luxury yacht he was aboard off the coast of Sicily was sunk by a tornado on Monday.
“Never say never is our motto,” said Vincenzo Zagarola, spokesperson for the Italian Coast Guard, according to Bloomberg. “But, at this point, it would be reasonable to think that we are more likely to find the missing people inside the boat.”
The Bayesian yacht, operated by sailing company Camper & Nicholsons, had 22 people onboard when it was hit by a violent storm. One person is dead and six, including Bloomer, remain missing.
The sole body that’s been recovered was of the yacht’s cook, according to Salvatore Cocina, the head of Sicily’s civil protection agency, The New York Times reported.
Fifteen others have been rescued, including Angela Bacares, the wife of recently acquitted tech billionaire Mike Lynch. Lynch and their 18-year-old daughter Hannah, as well as Bloomer’s wife Judy, are among the missing.
Bloomer has been chairman of Morgan Stanley International since 2016, according to his LinkedIn, and since last year has been chairman of international insurance group Hiscox.
His career began at now-shuttered accounting firm Arthur Andersen, where he worked from 1974 to 1994, according to his LinkedIn. He spent 10 years at British financial services firm Prudential, working his way up to group CEO by the time of his departure in 2005.
Since then, he’s had several stints as CEO and chairman of other firms.
“Our thoughts are with all those affected, in particular the Bloomer family, as we all wait for further news from this terrible situation,” a Morgan Stanley spokesperson told CNBC.
Hiscox Group CEO Aki Hussain told CNBC that members of the firm are “deeply shocked and saddened by this tragic event.”
The group was reportedly celebrating Lynch’s recent acquittal in the U.S. on 15 fraud charges over the $11.1 billion sale of his company Autonomy Corp. to Hewlett-Packard in 2011, which led to an $8.8 billion charge-off for the acquirer.
Those on board had aided in his defense, The Associated Press reported.
The yacht now sits roughly 164 feet underwater off the coast of Porticello. Such depth requires special precautions on the part of the recovery crews, the AP reported, and crews of two specialized cave divers each and a remote-controlled underwater vehicle are working in 12-minute shifts.
As most of those onboard would have been sleeping when the boat capsized at 4 a.m., it’s believed that they would be in the below-deck cabins, according to the AP. Rescue crews have yet to access those cabins, as they’ve been blocked by furniture that shifted during the storm.
The search will continue with the help of military ships and helicopters, Zagarola said, according to Bloomberg. In response to a question about whether the remaining passengers would be found alive, Zagarola said “reasonably, the answer should be not,” according to a separate interview with the PA news agency.
