Divers with Italy’s firefighter corps on Thursday recovered a fifth body after the sinking of a yacht this week off the coast of Sicily, officials said, leaving just one more to be found.
The bodies have not immediately been identified by the Italian authorities, so it was unclear which one of the passengers, which included the British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, was still missing.
The yacht, the Bayesian, with 10 crew members and 12 passengers, was caught in a sudden and violent downpour in the pre-dawn hours of Monday. Weather experts said that strong winds and lightning had hit the area and that the yacht had most likely been hit by air generated within a thunderstorm descending rapidly or by a waterspout, similar to a tornado over water.
Fifteen people managed to make it to safety, but the yacht’s cook, Recaldo Thomas, was confirmed dead on Monday, and rescue teams recovered four of the six missing bodies on Wednesday.
Rescue teams involving deep sea divers with the Italian firefighters’ corps coordinated by the local coast guard, as well as helicopters and rescue ships, had worked to reach the hull of the ship, which had settled on its side about 165 feet below the surface. The depth limited the amount of time the divers could be underwater, slowing down the search efforts.
As the rescue teams managed to recover some of the bodies on Wednesday afternoon, they brought them ashore in body bags in front of a crowd of reporters and onlookers.
Italian officials had identified the six missing from the yacht as Mr. Lynch and his daughter Hannah; Jonathan Bloomer, the chairman of Morgan Stanley International; his wife, Judy Bloomer; Christopher J. Morvillo, a lawyer at Clifford Chance; and his wife, Neda Morvillo.
Read More: Divers Recover 5th Body After Sinking of Yacht Off Sicily
