Hope fading in search for Sicily yacht passengers

Searches resumed for a third day on Wednesday on the wreck of a luxury yacht that sank off Sicily, with hope fading that the six missing passengers would be found alive.

The search operation, which involves specialist divers aided by an underwater drone, continued until late on Tuesday and resumed at first light on Wednesday morning, firefighters said.

Six people, including Jonathan Bloomer, chairman of Morgan Stanley International bank, British technology mogul Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, and Chris Morvillo, a lawyer from Clifford Chance, remain missing following the sinking of the yacht about 700 meters from the Sicilian coast on Monday, according to Sicily's Civil Protection Agency.

The Bayesian, a 56-meter yacht, was carrying a total of 22 people — 12 passengers and 10 crew members — comprising British, United States and Canadian nationals.

The luxury yacht went down at about 5 am local time, after a heavy storm caused waterspouts, or rotating columns of air and mist, reported the BBC.

Fifteen individuals were rescued, among them a 1-year-old British girl.

Italian news agency ANSA cited witnesses saying the Bayesian had dropped anchor when the storm hit, resulting in the mast snapping and the vessel capsizing before sinking.

Specialized fire and rescue divers, experts in confined-space operations, were flown in from Rome and Sardinia on Monday, said the BBC.

Firefighters said on Tuesday evening that divers had entered the inside of the wreck, but that it was a "long and complex" operation.

The yacht is largely intact, resting on the seabed some 50 meters down.

Bodies found

On Wednesday, divers found two bodies in the shipwreck, said a source close to the search. It was not immediately clear who had been found.

The discovery brings the confirmed death toll to three.

Previously, Sicily's Civil Protection Agency confirmed the body of the ship's cook, a Canadian who had been residing in Antigua, had been recovered, according to Italian newspaper la Repubblica.

Lynch, dubbed "the British Bill Gates" in media reports, is a technology entrepreneur, who recently celebrated his acquittal in a high-profile fraud case related to the $11 billion sale of his company, Autonomy, to US computing giant Hewlett-Packard. He had reportedly been facing two decades in jail and invited his legal team aboard the yacht to celebrate the result of the case.

The incident in Sicily coincides with the death of Lynch's co-defendant in the fraud case, Stephen Chamberlain, after an accident in Cambridgeshire in the United Kingdom on Saturday. Chamberlain was hit by a car while jogging.

Morvillo, a prominent lawyer, worked on Lynch's trial and the investigation into the 9/11 New York terror attacks in 2001. Bloomer is the 70-year-old British chairman of Morgan Stanley International and of insurance company Hiscox. Both their wives are among the six missing individuals.

A spokesperson for Morgan Stanley said the company was "deeply shocked and saddened" and added, "Our thoughts are with all those affected, in particular the Bloomer family, as we all wait for further news from this terrible situation."

Agencies contributed to this story.