Sicily yacht sinking: search resumes for Mike Lynch

Rescue teams in Sicily have resumed their search for six people who are still missing after a luxury superyacht was struck by a sudden tornado off the coast of Sicily.

British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, the founder of Autonomy Corporation, was one of 12 guests and 10 crew on board the 56-metre Bayesian when it went down near Porticello during a violent storm yesterday. He and his 18-year-old daughter, Hannah, are among those unaccounted for. Jonathan Bloomer, chair of Morgan Stanley International, and his wife, Judy, have also been named as among the six people still missing.

Lynch's wife, Angela Bacares, and 14 others were rescued by Italian coast guard patrol boats. Eight of the survivors, including a one-year-old, were transferred to local hospitals and are in a stable condition. One body was found nearby, believed to be that of the vessel's Canadian chef, Ricardo Thomas.

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The public prosecutor's office in the nearby town of Termini Imerese is investigating the sinking, which occurred at around 5am local time on Monday morning. A current leading theory is that a "highly localised waterspout" – a phenomenon whereby a tornado forms over a body of water – "hit and capsized the boat", said The Telegraph. The area where the sinking occurred has been buffeted by severe storms in recent days.

"We didn't see it coming," the yacht's captain, James Catfield, told Italian newspaper La Repubblica.

"It was all dark," survivor Charlotte Golunski, who was rescued along with her one-year-old daughter, told local newspaper Giornale di Sicilia from hospital in Palermo. "In the water I couldn't keep my eyes open. I was screaming for help, but all I could hear around me were the screams of others."

Marco Tilotta, a specialist diver from Palermo's fire and rescue service, told Italian newspaper Il Messaggero that the superyacht was "practically intact" on the seabed, 48 metres below the surface. "It is resting on its side on the starboard side. It has no gashes, no signs of impact," he said.

The UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch confirmed that staff had been dispatched to Sicily to conduct a preliminary assessment of the incident.

The guests on board Bayesian included Lynch's lawyers, employees and friends, who had been invited onto the £33 million vessel to celebrate his victory in a legal case in June. The 59-year-old was cleared of 15 fraud charges in the US over the $11.1 billion (£8.5 billion) sale of Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard in 2011. "I am looking forward to returning to the UK and getting back to what I love most: my family and innovating in my field," he said at the time.