The search for British billionaire Mike Lynch and his daughter has entered a crucial phase after the businessman’s yacht sank as a result of a tornado off the coast of the Sicilian capital Palermo.

The 50-metre-long luxury boat, named Bayesian, had 22 people on board when it sank in the early hours of Monday morning. According to local media, four Britons are among the six missing people.

According to ship tracking site Marine Traffic, the yacht sank when a violent storm swept through the area overnight and was sailing under a British flag.

Salvo Cocina of the Sicilian Civil Protection said: “They were in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Divers have now managed to break through a glass window and enter the ship’s hull, but they have not yet reached the cabins. Nick Sloane, an engineer who was involved in the Costa Concordia salvage operation in 2012, said Sky News that the coming hours will be “critical”.

He added: “You have a very small window of time to try to find the people who are stuck inside and hopefully have an air pocket and they could be rescued. You have two to three days maximum to try to get someone out.”

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What do we know about the missing people on the yacht?

Mike Lynch is one of the six missing tourists. The British technology magnate founded the software giant Autonomy in 1996 and was awarded the OBE for services to business in 2006. In June he was acquitted of charges of massive fraud related to an $11 billion (£8.64 billion) sale to US company Hewlett Packard.

One man, presumably the boat’s chef, Ricardo Thomas, was pronounced dead. Four of the missing passengers are British and two Americans, reports the Italian newspaper The Republic.

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Mr Lynch had planned the superyacht cruise as a celebration with his family, staff and lawyers who had supported him throughout the decade-long trial.

Among those missing are Jonathan Bloomer, chairman of Morgan Stanley International Bank, and Chris Morvillo, a lawyer at Clifford Chance.

Divers are still searching for the remaining six missing passengers: Mr. Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter, Jonathan Bloomer, non-executive chairman of Morgan Stanley International, Chris Morvillo, lawyer for Clifford Chance, and their two wives, Judy and Neda.

Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, was among the 15 survivors rescued from a lifeboat. Another survivor, 35-year-old Charlotte Golunski, told Italian journalists how she saved her one-year-old daughter Sofia from drowning.

She told The Republic She lost Sofia for “two seconds,” adding: “I held her above water with all my strength and stretched my arms up to prevent her from drowning. It was all dark. In the water, I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I screamed for help, but all I could hear around me were the screams of others.”

According to her LinkedIn profile, Ms. Golunski is a partner at Mr. Lynch’s firm, Invoke Capital.

Charlotte, Sofia and Charlotte’s husband James have now been discharged from hospital.

Ayla Reynold from New Zealand, who works at Clifford Chance, also survived the horror with her partner. Her father Lin Ronald confirmed to The Telegraph She had been invited on board as a thank you for her support in Lynch’s recent court case. He said his daughter did not give many details about what happened, but said: “There are dead people, and she and her partner are alive.”

Two other survivors were named: Leah Randall and Katja Chicken. They are both from South Africa and worked as crew members on the Bayesian.

Where did the yacht sink?

The luxury yacht sank off the coast of Palermo in Sicily.

The 56-meter-long sailing boat sank with 22 people on board shortly before sunrise, the Italian coast guard said.

“The wind was very strong. Bad weather was expected, but not to this extent,” a coast guard official in Palermo told Reuters.

In recent days, Italy has been hit by storms and heavy rain. After weeks of scorching heat, floods and landslides caused major damage in the north of the country.

The boat left the Sicilian port of Milazzo on August 14 and was last tracked east of Palermo on Sunday evening with the navigation status “at anchor,” according to the ship tracking app Vesselfinder.

The Bayesian Superyacht

According to VesselFinder, the Bayesian superyacht is 56 meters long.

The superyacht can accommodate up to 12 guests in six suites and is available for rent for up to 195,000 euros (166,000 pounds) per week. The registered owner is Revtom Ltd, which is based on the Isle of Man.

Bayesian has made several trips in the last few days, calling at various ports in Sicily.

The 75-meter-high mast of the shipyard formerly known as “Salute” (“health” in Italian) is the tallest aluminum mast in the world, the Italian shipbuilder Perini said on its website.

Perini built the boat in 2008, it was last refitted in 2020 and managed by the yacht company Camper & Nicholsons.

Camper and Nicholsons International confirmed The Independent that the Bayesian sailing yacht “entered into heavy weather and subsequently sank.”

A statement added: “There were a total of 12 guests and 10 crew members on board. The Italian Coast Guard is leading the search and rescue operations and has safely recovered 15 people. Efforts to find the seven missing people are ongoing. Our priority is to assist in the ongoing search and provide all necessary assistance to the rescued passengers and crew. Further information will be provided as it becomes available.”