FOLLOW US

A partner at Clifford Chance, Christopher Morvillo is one of six passengers who remain unaccounted for more than two days after their yacht went down hundreds of miles off the coast of Sicily. Only a chartered boat to celebrate the recent legal win of tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, A vessel carrying about ten South Korean and foreign nationals has sunk due to severe flooding caused by heavy rain in Hungary as divers search for missing passengers including Mike Lynch a victorious Tech Entrepreneur who had reportedly died with several others while crashing on Sunday along the Danube River.

Morvillo, known as a white-collar litigation expert at Clifford Chance's New York office, has not been seen since minutes after the yacht — named Bayesian — flipped over more than 36 hours ago. The incident has rocked the Magic Circle law firm.

Clifford Chance Missing Partner: Clifford Chance in Mourning

Clifford Chance spokeswoman said: “We are shocked and saddened at this terrible news. Our prayers are with the missing, especially our colleagues at The AP Christopher and his wife. In a statement, the firm said it is providing help to Morvillo's family and also supporting Ayla Ronald, Scotland Yard – who survived along with her partner – in its London office.

Among those who had been on board at the time of the sinking was Ronald, a member of Norton Rose Fulbright's litigation and dispute resolution team. Most recently, she and Morvillo helped get Lynch off in a high-profile fraud case involving the erstwhile British software company Autonomy.

Clifford Chance Missing Partner : Tragic Ending For Yacht Bash

The doomed yacht trip is said to have been organised in the wake of Lynch's acquittal, along with fellow Autonomy executive Stephen Chamberlain, on charges including fraud and conspiracy in the U.S. following several years spent fighting attempts by American prosecutors to bring him stateside over £6bn allegations he had hoodwinked HP into paying massively overstated amounts for his UK-software house.

Morvillo was one of the execs missing, as well as Lynch and his daughter Hannah, Jonathan Bloomer who is a non-executive chair on Morgan Stanley International and their spouses. The yacht, with 22 people on board, was hit by a violent storm and went down at lightning speed some half-a-mile from the peak-less white Mediterranean island. Fiften were rescued, but another six had not been located. Local reports suggest that this was as "specialized divers" began retrieving bodies from the wreckage of those still unaccounted for and who are now presumed dead.

A SHOCKWAVE THROUGH LEGAL AND BUSINESS COMMUNITIES

Morgan Stanley, where Bloomer also served as non-executive chair, said: 'We are deeply saddened to learn of the tragic death.' Our hearts go out to the family in this time of need and we are stunned by this heartbreaking news, said a spokesman. Both he and Hiscox, where Bloomer was a non-executive director, were worried about the passengers who had been dropped off in droves.