Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer and Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo are among the six people missing after a luxury yacht sank in a storm off Sicily on Monday, Sicily's Civil Protection told the BBC. UK tech tycoon Mike Lynch, 59, and his daughter Hannah, 18, were earlier also reported unaccounted for after the incident about 700m (2,300ft) from the Mediterranean island's shore. The 56m Bayesian was carrying 22 people including Brits, Americans and Canadians.
Fifteen people were rescued, including a one-year-old British girl. Sicily's Civil Protection also confirmed that the body of the ship's cook was recovered. A search operation resumed early on Tuesday morning, according to Italian media.
The British-flagged yacht with 10 crew and 12 passengers sank near the port of Porticello, just east of Sicily's capital Palermo, on Monday. The yacht capsized at about 5:00 local time after a heavy storm caused waterspouts, or rotating columns of air and mist. Witnesses told Italian news agency Ansa that the Bayesian’s anchor was down when the storm struck, causing the mast to break and the ship to lose its balance and sink.
On Monday, specialist fire and rescue divers, trained to work in tight spaces, flew in from Rome and Sardinia, but a first search of the wreck some 50 metres below the sea surface failed. "Access was limited only to the bridge, with difficulty due to the presence of furniture obstructing passage," the Italian fire department poste.