PORTICELLO, Sicily (AP) — Police divers resumed searching Tuesday for six people, including British tech magnate Mike Lynch , believed trapped some 50 meters (164 feet) underwater in the hull of a superyacht that sank in a storm off Sicily. Divers in wetsuits and oxygen tanks returned to the site off Porticello, near Palermo, to tag-team in 12-minute underwater search shifts where the luxyury sailboat went down. Fire rescue crews reported that divers only made it to the bridge during a first search, and were unable to access the below-deck cabins because they were blocked by furniture that had shifted during the violent storm that toppled the vessel early Monday.
Fifteen people survived, including a mother who reported holding her 1-year-old baby over the waves to save her. One body has been recovered, identified as the on-board chef, officials said. The Bayesian, a 56-meter (184-foot) British-flagged luxury yacht, had been moored about a half-mile off Ponticello when a storm rolled in around 4 a.
m. Monday. Civil protection officials said they believed the ship was struck by a tornado over the water, known as a waterspout, which had passed through the area.
The search for the six missing passengers has been slow because the Bayesian is resting at a depth of 50 meters, where divers can stay for only 12-minute shifts, the fire rescue team said in a statement Tuesday. The rotating search teams, each made up of two specialized cave divers, were working Tuesday to open up other .