Divers locate five bodies inside sunken superyacht

Four bodies were recovered from the wreck of the superyacht Bayesian after it sank in a freak storm off the coast of Sicily in the early hours of Monday.

- HOLLY EVANS ,TARA COBHAM

A fifth body remains in the sailboat while the whereabouts of the sixth missing person remain unknown.

Tycoon Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah were among the six people unaccounted for after his vessel sank at around 5am near the Sicilian capital of Palermo, having been caught in a violent tornado, known as a waterspout.

The other four passengers who have been missing since the disaster are Morgan Stanley International chair Jonathan Bloomer; his wife, Judy Bloomer; Chris Morvillo, a lawyer with Clifford Chance; and his wife, Neda Morvillo.

Identities of the recovered bodies have not been confirmed by authorities, despite local and international media reporting some had been identified.

As the body bags were taken back to the port of Porticello yesterday afternoon, dozens of emergency services staff were waiting, and one bag was seen being put in the back of an ambulance.

The search operation will resume this morning, with the process of bringing the fifth body to shore being described by Salvatore Cocina, from Sicily’s civil protection agency, as “ongoing”. He also said there will be an investigation in due course, but the priority is finding the missing.

The body of Canadian-Antiguan national Recaldo Thomas, who was working on the 56-metre vessel as a chef, was previously discovered on Monday, with tributes describing him as a “wellloved, kind human being”.