Search resumes for six missing after Mike Lynch's yacht sank, but hopes dim

Divers search for survivors after British tech entrepreneur's yacht sinks off Sicily, missing passengers include Lynch's daughter.

Divers resumed a search on Wednesday (August 21) for survivors after British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch's yacht sank off the coast of Sicily two days ago, though hopes dwindled of finding the six missing people alive.

The British-flagged Bayesian, a 56-metre-long (184-ft) superyacht, was carrying 22 people and was anchored off the port of Porticello, near Palermo, when it capsized during a fierce storm on Monday.

Fifteen people survived, one crew member's body was recovered and six passengers remain unaccounted for, including Lynch, his 18-year-old daughter and Jonathan Bloomer, a non-executive chair of Morgan Stanley International.

Underwater inspection of the wreck resumed early on Wednesday after being paused late on Tuesday, the fire department said on social media. It earlier described the operations as "long and complex".

The yacht was lying sideways at a depth of around 50 metres, giving divers 8-10 minutes to inspect it before having to resurface. Efforts have been hampered by "very confined" spaces inside the wreck, fire department spokesman Luca Cari said.

Mr. Lynch, 59, is one of the UK's best-known tech entrepreneurs. He built the country's largest software firm, Autonomy, and was referred to as Britain's Bill Gates.

He sold the firm to HP for $11 billion in 2011, after which the deal spectacularly unravelled with the U.S. tech giant accusing him of fraud, resulting in a lengthy trial. Mr. Lynch was acquitted on all charges by a jury in San Francisco in June.