Mike Lynch's body recovered but 18-year-old daughter still missing

Search goes on for Hannah Lynch, the only person on the yacht still unaccounted for

The body of British tech tycoon Mike Lynch has been brought ashore from the wreck of his superyacht off the coast of Sicily as divers work to locate his 18-year-old daughter, who remains missing.

Mr Lynch, 59, and five others went missing after the vessel sank off the coast of Sicily, having been struck by a waterspout early on Monday.

Divers found five bodies on Wednesday, when they brought four to the shore in body bags. A fifth – Mr Lynch's – was recovered from the wreck on Thursday.

The Italian Coastguard has confirmed that the sixth and final person yet to be found is a woman.

The process of locating the last body from the sunken yacht, which is resting on the seabed off the coast at a depth of 50 metres, is ongoing, said Salvatore Cocina, the head of Sicily's civil protection agency.

A boat carrying specialist divers heads out to the site of the Bayesian on Thursday. PA

An investigation will be held in due course, he said, but for now the priority is finding the missing woman.

Dozens of emergency services staff waited to receive the body bags brought into shore on Wednesday, with one seen loaded into an ambulance.

Among those also named as missing were Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer; his wife Judy Bloomer; Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo; and his wife Neda Morvillo.

The body of Canadian-Antiguan citizen Ricardo Thomas, who was working as a chef on the Bayesian, was recovered at the scene on Monday.

Of the 22 passengers and crew on board, 15 – including Mr Lynch's wife Angela Bacares – were rescued after escaping on to a lifeboat.

The captain of a yacht, the Sir Robert BP, who helped to rescue them, said his crew noticed the Bayesian had disappeared before a passenger spotted the flare.

Karsten Borner told Sky News: "We couldn't see them any more and they disappeared from the radar, we were busy keeping our own ship sailing.

"We couldn't see the ship again, so we were aware something was very wrong."

He said it was only when the tender set out that they found the life raft.

Mr Borner said: "It turned out to be the life raft, a 12-person life raft with 15 people inside including one baby.

Divers search sunken superyacht Bayesian - in pictures

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  A body bag is brought ashore at Porticello on the fifth day of the search operation, after the luxury yacht Bayesian sank in a storm while moored off the Sicily coast. PA

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  A diver prepares to reach the sunken superyacht. AP

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  Mike Lynch and his daughter Hannah were among those who died. PA

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  Rescuers test a decompression chamber at Porticello harbour. PA

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  A fire service helicopter returns to port, after being used to aid search efforts at the site of the sunken yacht. AP

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  Rescue workers transport a body bag after a luxury yacht, which was carrying British entrepreneur Mike Lynch. Reuters

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  An Italian fire service diving crew returns to harbour on the third day of the search. PA

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  Rescue divers continue their search. AFP

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  Divers off Porticello set out to inspect the site where the British-flagged luxury yacht Bayesian sank with 22 people onboard. AFP

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  The yacht Bayesian in Palermo, Sicily. EPA

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  Rescuers at Porticello plan their dive on the site where the Bayesian sank. AFP

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  A helicopter of the Italian Coast Guard above Porticello. AFP

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  A survivor of Monday's incident leaves Italian Coast Guard headquarters in Porticello. Reuters

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  A life raft docked at the harbour near the port where emergency and rescue services are working. Reuters

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  Health workers carry a body bag on the pier at Porticello. EPA

"They stepped over to our tender and we brought them back to our ship. There, we took good care of them, gave them dry clothes, towels, blankets, tea and coffee and so on and took care of them."

Inspections of the yacht's internal hull took place on Wednesday morning.

A team of four British inspectors from the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) also arrived in Porticello to inspect the site of the sinking.

The MAIB is looking into what happened because the yacht Bayesian was flying a British flag, it is understood.

The Italian Coastguard said the MAIB is not involved in the search for the missing people, and has not been requested to assist.

The boat's captain, James Cutfield, was reportedly quizzed by authorities for two hours as they began questioning all crew members.

Speaking to New Zealand media, Mr Cutfield's brother Mark said his sibling was a "very good sailor" with eight years' experience working abroad on luxury yachts.

A helicopter was drafted in to help with the search effort, as divers from the local fire service were seen entering the water with torches attached to their headgear.

A police boat and divers were also seen entering the water on Wednesday afternoon.

Fire crews from the Vigili del Fuoco said they have been accessing the boat through natural entrances, without making openings.

Remote-controlled underwater vehicles are being used, with naval units and cave divers also taking part in the search, the Italian Coastguard has said.

Bayesian was moored about 700m off the coast of Porticello when it sank at about 5am local time on Monday as the area was hit by a storm.

Vincenzo Zagarola, of the Italian Coastguard, previously said the missing tourists were feared dead.

Fire crews described the operation as complex, with divers limited to 12-minute underwater shifts.

Survivors have been recuperating at a hotel complex in Porticello, where authorities were gathering witness statements.

The boat trip was a celebration of Mr Lynch's acquittal in a fraud case in the US.

The businessman, who founded software giant Autonomy in 1996, was cleared in June of carrying out a massive fraud relating to its $11 billion sale to US company Hewlett-Packard.

The Financial Times reported Mr Bloomer had appeared at trial as a defence witness for Mr Lynch, while media reports suggest the pair are close friends.

In a separate incident, Mr Lynch's co-defendant in his US fraud trial, Stephen Chamberlain, died after being hit by a car while out running in Cambridgeshire, eastern England on Saturday.