A luxury sailboat with 22 people on board, including 10 crew members, sank off the port of Porticello, east of Palermo, in the early hours of Monday after a storm hit the area, AFP reported.

“This morning, around 5.00am, following a violent storm, a 56-metre sailboat called Bayesian, flying the British flag, sank near Porticello,” the Italian coast guard said in a statement.

Italian authorities rescued 15 passengers, including a one-year-old English girl who was rushed to Palermo’s paediatric hospital, whereas seven others were reported missing.

These included four British nationals, a Canadian and two Americans, Ansa reported.

UK tech tycoon Mike Lynch and his daughter Hannah were among those missing, while his wife Angela Bacares was among the 15 people rescued, the head of Sicily’s Civil Protection Agency Salvo Cocina told AFP.

The body of a missing person was located and recovered late Monday morning after divers reached the boat, which stood at a depth of 50 metres half a mile off Sicily’s coast.

Italy’s fire and rescue service said in a statement on X (formerly Twitter) that divers had recovered “the body of a man outside the wreck”.

“Search operations are ongoing,” the statement added.

Details regarding the identity of the victim were not immediately available. 

#Palermo, naufragio imbarcazione a Porticello: recuperato dai #sommozzatori dei #vigilidelfuoco il corpo senza vita di un uomo, all’esterno del relitto. Proseguono le operazioni di ricerca con il coordinamento in mare della @guardiacostiera [#19agosto 11:30] pic.twitter.com/Y2m9o5ohCe

— Vigili del Fuoco (@vigilidelfuoco) August 19, 2024

A private chat involving the head of Sicily’s Civil Protection Salvo Cocina said divers “saw some bodies through the portholes,” Il Corriere della Sera reported.

Eight of those rescued, including the one-year-old girl, were transferred to local hospitals. All were reported as being in a stable condition.

The mother of the child, a British citizen named Charlotte, told La Repubblica: “I kept [my daughter] afloat with all my strength, my arms stretched upwards to keep her from drowning. 

“It was all dark. I couldn’t keep my eyes open in the water. I screamed for help but all I could hear around me was the screams of others.” 

She and her daughter later managed to climb aboard an inflatable lifeboat along with 11 others, according to Ansa.

Passengers on board the vessel included people from the UK, US, Canada and New Zealand, Ansa said.

A spokesperson for the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said: “We are in contact with the local authorities following an incident in Sicily, and stand ready to provide consular support to British nationals affected.”

The boat left the port of Milazzo, on Sicily’s northeastern coast, on Wednesday, August 14th, and was anchored some 700 metres off the port of Porticello, east of Palermo, when a violent storm hit the area on Monday morning.

Local media reports said that a waterspout, which roughly resembles a mini-tornado over a body of water, hit the vessel.

A fisherman in Porticello told Ansa the boat “disappeared all of a sudden” after being hit by the waterspout. 

“I saw it sink with my own eyes,” he added.

Fisherman Fabio Cefalu told AFP he and others rushed to passengers’ aid. 

“But we didn’t find anyone in the sea, we only found cushions and the remains of the boat,” he said.

Italian port authorities opened an investigation into the incident on Monday morning.

The captain of the vessel was set to be questioned in the coming hours according to Ansa.

The Bayesian was a luxury sailboat built by Italian firm Perini Navi in 2008, AFP reported.

It had an 11.51-metre mast and could reach speeds of up to 15.5 knots.