London:

The bodies of British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch and his daughter Hannah have been found in the yacht which sank off Sicily, the Daily Telegraph newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Scuba divers scouring the wreck of British tech magnate’s family yacht, which sank two days ago, had earlier found two bodies inside it, a source close to rescue operations had said on Wednesday.

Inspection of the wreck, lying sideways at a depth of around 50 metres, was a “long and complex” operation, the Italian fire department said, with inside spaces obstructed by furniture and debris, and scuba divers having just 8-10 minutes beneath the water before needing to resurface.

Separately, the coast guard deployed a remotely operated vehicle to scan the seabed and take underwater pictures and videos that it said may provide “useful and timely elements” for prosecutors looking into the disaster.

The coast guard has been questioning survivors, including the captain of the Bayesian, and passengers on the yacht that was moored next to it who witnessed the ship going down, judicial sources said.

No one is under investigation at the moment, sources added.

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.

The Bayesian, which was owned by Lynch’s wife, was built by Italian shipbuilder Perini in 2008 and last refitted in 2020. It had the world’s tallest aluminium mast, measuring 72 metres, according to its makers.