Editorial 20 August 2024.
As more details pour out regarding the luxury boat sinking off the coast of Sicily, the story has started to dominate the headlines around the world. In the UK, Tuesday’s front pages are dominated by yesterday’s news that the British tech tycoon Mike Lynch and his daughter are among the six people still missing.
There’s not much coverage of the story on the international front pages, but online – since the news of other prominent figures from banking and tech from around the world are among the missing – the story is becoming more international.
Away from the yacht sinking, a few UK papers feature showbiz and royal stories on the sidebar. A few of the papers lead on other domestic topics – mostly politics.
Last night’s Premier League draw between Leicester City and Spurs dominates the back pages.
‘Mike Lynch among missing after luxury yacht sinks in Italy’
The Metro headline reads: “Tycoon missing in yacht horror”. The paper’s headline notes the £14m yacht sunk because of a storm.
The Daily Mirror leads with a British mum who saved her baby as the yacht sank during the storm. Charlotte Golunski, 36, said she lost sight of her baby but was then able to grab her and kept her afloat “with all my strength.”
The Daily Telegraph says there are fears that Lynch is dead. According to Lin Ronald, whose daughter was onboard and survived, the tech tycoon was on a trip to celebrate the end of a legal battle.
Lynch’s co-defendant was hit by a car on Saturday whilst out for a jog. He later died. Mike Lynch founded software giant Autonomy in 1996 and was made an OBE for services to enterprises in 2006. In June, he was cleared of conducting a massive fraud relating to an £8.64bn sale to US company Hewlett Packard.
The FT calls Lynch a “vindicated tech baron” after his acquittal in June. Following the verdict, it says he was “elated” and was “looking forward to returning to the UK and getting back to what I love most: my family and innovating in my field”.
The Daily Express has a large and dramatic image of the yacht, with an inset picture of Lynch and his wife Angela who survived the sinking.
The Times front pages lead with a photo of Jonathan Bloomer, the British chairman of Morgan Stanley Internation, who – along with his wife, are also missing. The paper notes the government is sending four marine safety inspectors to Palermo to conduct an initial assessment of the yacht’s sinking. A former member of staff to Mike Lynch, tells the paper that the multi-millionaire businessman “clearly had a lot of pride” in the yacht and had decorated the walls of his west London home with photos of it.
The Guardian reports the yacht’s chef has been confirmed dead. The paper shows rescue workers bringing a body ashore. The paper adds that the UK Foreign Office is providing support to “a number of families.”
‘Reducing overcrowding in jail’
Away from the yacht sinking, other domestic topics make the front pages.
The i newspaper leads with a report that says at least 136 people on remand were held in police stations yesterday as part of an emergency measure to reduce overcrowding in jails. The paper says the figures come from the Ministry of Justice.
The Daily Mail leads with claims made in a new book about Queen Elizabeth which claims the monarch disliked Trump. The Queen also reportedly mused that Trump “must have some sort of arrangement” with his wife Melania.