Five bodies have now been found in the wreck of the luxury yacht Bayesian, which sank with 22 people on board in a severe storm off the coast of Sicily.

However, only four bodies have been recovered so far, said Salvatore Cocina, head of the Sicilian civil protection agency, on Wednesday, and the whereabouts of one person remain unknown.

Technology magnate Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah were among six people missing after his boat sank in a tornado near the Sicilian capital of Palermo at around 5 a.m. on Monday.

The identities of the recovered bodies have not yet been confirmed by authorities, although local and international media reported that some had been identified.

The 50-meter-long ship sank when a violent storm swept through the area overnight and was sailing under a British flag, ship tracking site Marine Traffic said.

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

Mike Lynch is one of six tourists missing after the disaster. The British technology magnate founded 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.

A man believed to be the yacht’s chef, Recaldo Thomas, is the only person confirmed dead so far. Relatives have paid tribute to Mr Thomas, a Canadian-born man who had lived in Antigua, on social media. One wrote: “Rest in peace great man. I don’t know what else to say except I love you and always will.” Another wrote: “I’m going to miss you so much Recaldo Thomas, I still can’t believe this.”

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It is understood 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.

In addition to Mr Lynch and his daughter Hannah, four other passengers have been missing since the disaster: Morgan Stanley International Chairman Jonathan Bloomer, his wife Judy Bloomer, Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda Morvillo.

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 La 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 the Sicilian capital Palermo in Italy.

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

The luxury boat cruising along the Italian coast was owned by Revtom, an Isle of Man-based company registered in the name of Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares.

According to VesselFinder, the Bayesian is 56 meters long.

The superyacht can accommodate up to 12 guests in six suites and can be rented for up to 195,000 euros (166,000 pounds) per week.

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.”

What do we know about the search

On Wednesday afternoon, body bags were seen being taken to the port of Porticello. The process of bringing the fifth body ashore was described by Mr Cocina as “underway”.

He said there would be an investigation in due course, but the search for the missing people was the priority.

When the body bags were returned to the port, dozens of rescue workers were already waiting there and one of the bags was seen being loaded into the back of an ambulance.

The yacht’s inner hull was examined on Wednesday morning after divers managed to break a pane of glass and gain access to the interior during what was reportedly a difficult search operation.

A helicopter was deployed to assist in the search, while divers from the local fire department entered the water with flashlights attached to their headgear. A police boat and divers also entered the water on Wednesday afternoon.

Firefighters said they reached the ship through natural entrances without creating openings. Remotely operated underwater vehicles were used and marine units and cave divers were also involved in the search, the coast guard said.

A team of four British inspectors from the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) also arrived in Porticello to view the scene of the sinking. The MAIB is investigating what happened as the Bayesian is believed to have been flying a British flag. The Italian coast guard said the MAIB was not involved in the search for the missing people and had not been asked to assist.