The search for the last missing person after a luxury yacht sank in a storm off the coast of Sicily resumed this morning – five bodies were recovered from the wreck.

Six people, including British technology magnate Mike Lynch, were missing after the ship, named Bayesian, sank around 5 a.m. on Monday.

The head of Sicily’s civil protection agency confirmed that of the five bodies found on Wednesday, four were recovered before the search was called off last night, while a fifth was recovered after it resumed this morning.

The whereabouts of the missing sixth person remain unknown.

Although the search has been going on for four days, authorities have not yet been able to confirm the identity of the recovered bodies.

The six missing people are Mr Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, Morgan Stanley International Bank CEO Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy Bloomer, Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda Morvillo.

Fifteen people, including a one-year-old baby, were able to escape the tragedy in a lifeboat. The body of Canadian-Antiguan citizen Recaldo Thomas, who worked as a cook on the yacht, was recovered from the scene of the accident on Monday.

Photos show the fifth body being brought ashore

08:42

Photos taken by photographers on site show the fifth body being brought ashore by rescue workers.

The remains were recovered from the wreckage this morning and shortly after 8.45am local time (7.45am in the UK) a firefighting boat with blue lights returned to Porticello harbour carrying a blue body bag.

The search for the sixth and final missing person continues.

What we know so far

08:19 , Lydia Chantler Hicks

• Five bodies found to the wreck of the Bayesian superyacht. Four were brought ashore yesterday, the fifth recovered this morning.

• One person remains missingSearch teams resumed efforts to find them this morning.

• The yacht was probably hit by a waterspout – a tornado over the water. According to eyewitnesses, the ship sank within a few minutes, but how and why it sank so quickly is not yet clear.

• Search was hampered by debris This blocks access to the yacht’s sleeping cabins. The operation was further complicated by the angle and depth of the yacht, which lies on the seabed approximately 49 m (160.7 ft) below the surface.

• Authorities are searching for six missing people: British tech billionaire Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah; Morgan Stanley International Bank CEO Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy Bloomer; Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda Morvillo.

• The Italian authorities have not yet officially identified the bodies that were found.

• Fifteen of the 22 passengers and crew escaped Bayesian on a lifeboatA man – yacht chef Recaldo Thomas – was found dead at the scene of the accident on Monday.

Fifth body recovered

08:07

A fifth body was recovered from the wreck of the Bayesian.

The body was one of five found yesterday, but divers had to abandon their recovery after dark.

Five bodies have now been recovered from the wreckage. One person is still missing.

“The world has lost a genius,” says friend of Mike Lynch

07:43 , Lydia Chantler Hicks

David Tabizel, who co-founded the software giant Autonomy with Mike Lynch in 1996, praised him as “a giant of a man.”

At around 9.30pm on Wednesday, after news was confirmed that five bodies had been found on the Bayesian, Mr Tabizel wrote on X: “It looks like we have lost our dear Dr Mike Lynch. RIP. The world has lost a genius. His family has lost a giant of a man.”

Speaking to Sky News earlier this week, Mr Tabizel described Mr Lynch as “one of the most influential, intelligent and honourable people I have ever had the honour of knowing”.

Writing for the Standard, Lynch’s friend Rohan Silva recounted a visit to the tech tycoon while he was under house arrest in the US awaiting trial for fraud. He also wrote that after Lynch’s name was finally cleared, he sent him a message saying he was “exhausted” but “so wonderful to be back home” in the UK with his wife and two daughters.

Silva said Mr Lynch was “loved in the London tech community”, adding that he would remember him not only for his “brilliant academic and business achievements” but also for “his thoughtfulness, generosity, empathy and kindness”.

After founding Autonomy, Mr Lynch rose to become one of Britain’s most successful entrepreneurs.

He sold the company to Hewlett Packard (HP) for £11 billion (£8.64 billion), making a windfall profit of $800 million, but then spent 12 years clearing his name of fraud and conspiracy after HP accused him of inflating Autonomy’s value.

The 59-year-old was finally acquitted in June. He had organized the trip on the Bayesian – a yacht belonging to his wife Angela Bacares – to celebrate his acquittal.

Who were the six search teams looking for?

07:19

Search teams have spent more than three days looking for six people missing after the Bayesian yacht sank before dawn on Monday.

The bodies of five people have now been found. However, it has not yet been confirmed which of the missing people they are.

The six people the authorities were looking for are the British billionaire and tech tycoon Michael Lynch; his 18-year-old daughter Hannah Lyncha former student from London; chairwoman of Morgan Stanley International Bank Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy Bloomer; Attorney Clifford Chance Chris Morvilloand his wife Neda Morvillo.

Photos show search teams resuming their work

07:09 , Lydia Chantler Hicks

Photos from the scene of the accident this morning show that the search operation has apparently resumed.

It is now just after 8 a.m. in Sicily. The Italian fire service, which is leading the operation, has not yet made a statement this morning, but in recent days firefighters have resumed their search at dawn.

Search for sixth missing person resumes

07:03 , Lydia Chantler Hicks

Good morning and welcome to the Standard’s live blog.

Today, divers will search the wreck of the Bayes yacht for the last person still missing after the luxury vessel sank off the coast of Porticello in northern Sicily in the early hours of Monday.

Rescue workers searched for three full days for six missing passengers – four Britons and two Americans. After difficulties reaching the sleeping cabins where the missing people appeared to be trapped, divers finally managed to gain access yesterday afternoon and found five bodies.

Four of these bodies have been recovered. The whereabouts of the missing sixth person remain unknown.

We will keep you updated on the progress of the operation throughout the day.