Bank boss among missing in Sicily yacht disaster

Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer and Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo are among the six people missing after a luxury yacht sank in a storm off Sicily on August 19, Sicily's Civil Protection told the BBC, Report informs.

UK tech tycoon Mike Lynch, 59, and his daughter Hannah, 18, were earlier also reported unaccounted for after the incident about 700m (2,300ft) from the Mediterranean island's shore.

The 56m Bayesian was carrying 22 people including Brits, Americans and Canadians. Fifteen people were rescued, including a one-year-old British girl. Sicily's Civil Protection also confirmed that the body of the ship's cook was recovered.

The yacht capsized at about 05:00 local time after a heavy storm caused waterspouts, or rotating columns of air. A search operation is due to resume shortly.

The British-flagged yacht with 10 crew and 12 passengers sank near the port of Porticello, just east of Sicily's capital Palermo, on Monday.

Witnesses told Italian news agency Ansa that the Bayesian’s anchor was down when the storm struck, causing the mast to break and the ship to lose its balance and sink.

The wreckage lies on the seabed at a depth of 50m, and divers are preparing to resume their search for the missing.