Divers searching for six missing people following the sinking of a superyacht off Sicily's coast have recovered five bodies, Italian authorities said on Thursday. There were four Britons and two Americans left missing after the luxury Bayesian yacht sank during a violent storm at dawn on Monday. They were UK tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, his teenage daughter Hannah, Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy, and Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda.

Italian news agency ANSA and state broadcaster RAI News report that the four bodies recovered on Wednesday belonged to Bloomer and Morvillo and their respective wives, however authorities have yet to confirm the identities. Italian media reported that the fifth body brought ashore on Thursday morning belonged to Mike Lynch , with the body of his daughter Hannah still unaccounted for. There were 10 crew members and 12 passengers onboard the British-flagged yacht when it was hit by a waterspout, similar to a tornado, as it lay anchored just off Porticello, east of Palermo.

There were 15 survivors who were thrown from the deck into the sea before the luxury yacht sank to a depth of about 50 metres. The body of the yacht's chef, Recaldo Thomas, was recovered on Monday. As prosecutors investigate whether the captain and crew took all the necessary safety measures to prevent the disaster, questions remain over how the luxury yacht sank.

Giovanni Costantino, founder and CEO of The It.