Divers have found five bodies while searching the wreckage of a superyacht that sank off the coast of Sicily.
Four bodies have washed ashore and efforts to recover the fifth body will continue tomorrow.
The body of the yacht’s chef, Recardo Thomas, has already been recovered, the Italian coast guard confirmed on Tuesday. Today’s findings bring the total number of confirmed deaths to six.
Authorities have yet to confirm the identity of the body found on Wednesday. One person remains missing.
British tech billionaire Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter were among those missing when a tornado sank the Baysian on Monday morning.
Six people are still missing: Morgan Stanley International CEO Jonathan Bloomer, US Attorney Chris Morvillo and their wives Judy Bloomer and Neda Morvillo.
Of the 22 people on board, 15 have been rescued, including British woman Charlotte Golanski and her 1-year-old daughter Sophia.
Giovanni Costantino, CEO of Italian Sea Group, which owns the company that built the yacht, said he was “stunned” by the news that the Basian had sunk while anchored off the coast of Sicily.
“As a Perini manufacturer, I know very well how boats have always been designed and built, and because Perini is a sailing boat, sailing boats are considered the safest of all ships,” he said.
He added that its structure and keel are “unsinkable”.
Divers who took part in the search and rescue operation for the Costa Concordia, which sank in 2013, were asked to extend the time they spent underwater on each dive to 20 minutes. For the past two days, the limit of 12 minutes per dive, including the time underwater and the time to surface, has been a big challenge for the divers.
But the divers on the Costa Concordia have cylinders with special micelles that allow them to dive for longer. 4,444 4,444 Divers are searching for survivors in the hope that some may be trapped in air pockets inside the ship, but experts say the chances of there being any survivors are slim.
Divers from the local fire department entered the water at the wreck site on Wednesday afternoon wearing flashlights attached to their headgear.
A police boat was also at the scene and a helicopter was hovering above the ship.
Dr Jamie Pringle, lecturer in forensic geosciences at Keele University, there had been cases of people surviving for around 60 hours at similar depths.
But these were “very rare” and the longer it took, the less likely they were to be found alive, he said.
Simon Boxall, a lecturer in oceanography at the University of Southampton, said he was “fairly certain” they were still on board.
He said they may have been thrown overboard from the boat and searches were continuing in the surrounding area.
A total of between 20 and 50 rescuers are involved in the operation.
The British-flagged 56-metre yacht Baysian sank in a storm early on Monday morning while anchored a short distance from the coast.