Search For Missing Continues After Luxury Yacht Sinks Off Sicily

Police divers are searching for six missing people, including British tech magnate Mike Lynch, after a superyacht sunk in a storm off Sicily. Fifteen passengers survived, and one body has been recovered. The search is challenging due to the deep underwater location of the wreck and shifting furniture blocking access.

Police divers resumed the search Tuesday for six people, including British tech magnate Mike Lynch, presumed trapped in the hull of a superyacht that sank in a storm off Sicily.

Divers in wetsuits and oxygen tanks conducted 12-minute shifts near Porticello to access the wreckage of the luxury sailboat. Initial efforts reached only the bridge, hindered by displaced furniture in the below-deck cabins. Reports indicate that fifteen people survived, including a mother who saved her baby by holding it above the waves. One body, identified as the yacht's chef, has been recovered.

The British-flagged superyacht, the Bayesian, was moored offshore when a waterspout hit early Monday. Rescuers are struggling with the yacht's position at a 50-metre depth, requiring brief, rotation-based dives. The six missing passengers, including Lynch and associates, were celebrated after Lynch's exoneration in a prominent fraud case. Officials maintain the missing status of these individuals until their location in the wreckage is confirmed.