Tragic discovery in search for Mike Lynch and five other missing people after Bayesian yacht sunk by tornado

Two bodies were found in a sunken yacht off the coast of Sicily that was hit by a tornado in the early hours of Monday morning.

British technology magnate Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah are among the six tourists still missing after the yacht sank in the storm. The other four missing people are Jonathan Bloomer, chairman of Morgan Stanley International Bank, his wife Judy Bloomer, Chris Morvillo, lawyer at Clifford Chance, and his wife Neda Morvillo.

This afternoon, Salvatore Cocina, the head of Sicily's civil protection agency, confirmed to the BBC that two bodies had been found inside the sunken yacht. Shortly before 3pm, a green body bag was seen being pulled out of the water.

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The Italian coast guard did not rule out today (20 August) that some of the missing people could still be alive. Experts suspected that air pockets could have formed when the yacht sank.

However, Vincenzo Zagarola of the Italian coast guard said the missing tourists probably did not survive. Asked how likely it was that they were still alive on Tuesday, he said: “Never say never, but reasonably the answer would have to be no.”

Inspections of the yacht's inner hull took place on Wednesday morning. A team of four British inspectors from the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) arrived in Porticello to inspect the sunken yacht Bayesian, which was sailing under the British flag.

The discovery of the two bodies today follows the discovery of a body on Monday morning. The body has now been confirmed to be that of Canadian-Antiguan citizen Recaldo Thomas, who worked as a cook on the yacht.

Bayesian was anchored about half a mile off the coast of Porticello when it sank at around 5 a.m. local time on Monday as a storm struck the area.