New Zealand lawyer Ayla Ronald’s chilling text to father revealed after surviving Bayesian superyacht sinking
One survivor of the doomed Bayesian, who is “very shaken” after escaping the superyacht’s sinking off the coast of Sicily, shared a disturbing revelation with her father.
Ayla Ronald, a senior associate at law firm Clifford Chance, was one of 22 aboard the British-flagged ship when a tornado struck the area where it was anchored around 5 a.m. 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 biggest-ever fraud cases” alongside his friends and family.
“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.”
Ayla Ronald’s phone was the only one with a battery and she was helping coordinate with the first responders, according to the New Zealand Herald.
Lin told the outlet that his daughter is “very shaken” following the incident.
The Christchurch, NZ, native studied at the University of Otago in New Zealand before moving to London, where she 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.”
What to know after a tornado sank the yacht Bayesian off the coast of Sicily, leaving one dead and six missing:
- A superyacht capsized off the coast of Sicily after a tornado hit the area early Monday, killing one passenger and leaving six others missing — including Michael Lynch, a tech tycoon known as “Britain’s Bill Gates,” officials said.
- Lynch had invited guests from the legal firm that represented him, Clifford Chance, and Invoke Capital, his own company, on the voyage, according to the Telegraph.
- Captain James Catfield, who piloted the 184-foot, British-flagged craft, was among the 15 crew members and passengers to survive after the tornado struck Monday before sunrise.
- Security camera footage shot from 650 feet from where the Bayesian sank Monday shows it slowly disappearing.
- Italian authorities have said the chances of the passengers surviving the disaster were very small, but “never say never.”
Lynch, his 18-year-old daughter, Hannah, Jonathan Bloomer, a chairman at Morgan Stanley International, and his wife, Judy, are among the six still missing.
Angela Bacares, the owner of the yacht and Lynch’s wife, was among 15 people rescued.
One body, believed to be the ship’s chef, Canadian-born Thomas Recaldo, was recovered from the wreck.
Lynch’s three-month trial played out in San Francisco federal court and centered on allegations that Lynch schemed to inflate his software company Autonomy’s revenue when he sold it to Hewlett-Packard for $11 billion in 2011.
