Divers searching the wreckage of a luxury yacht that sank off the coast of Sicily have found the remains of four of the six missing passengers, a source close to the operation said on August 21.
"Four bodies have been found so far," a source told Agence France-Presse on condition of anonymity.
The source, however, did not confirm Italian media reports that two of the bodies had been identified as 59-year-old tech tycoon Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah.
The British-flagged Baysian, a 56-metre superyacht owned by Lynch's wife, was anchored off the port of Porticello near Palermo with 22 passengers and crew on board when it sank and capsized in a severe storm in the early hours of August 19.
Rescue workers did not immediately release the identities of the victims found on August 21. According to Italian news agency Adchronos, one of the bodies was that of a stocky man and the second was that of a woman.
The body bags were taken to the port of Porticello on a fireboat and lifted onto the pier. Divers and specialized rescuers have been searching inside the hull of the sunken yacht since August 19.
The victims were trapped in cabins that proved very difficult to access. Divers could only stay on the boat for 8-10 minutes before they had to surface.
Fifteen people managed to escape before the yacht capsized in a pre-dawn storm, but the body of the cook on board, Canadian-Antiguan national Recardo Tomas, was found near the wreckage a few hours after the accident.
Six passengers are still missing: Mr Lynch and his daughter, Morgan Stanley International non-executive chairman Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy, and Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda.
