Five bodies have been found by divers searching the wreck of the superyacht that sunk off the coast of Sicily.
Four bodies were found earlier today, according to Sicilian authorities. It’s been reported that these have been recovered and brought to shore.
The PA news agency is reporting a fifth has now been found and efforts to bring it ashore are “ongoing”.
The body of the yacht’s chef, Recaldo Thomas, has been recovered already, the Italian coastguard confirmed to Sky News on Tuesday. Today’s discoveries bring the total number of confirmed dead to six.
British tech billionaire Mike Lynch and his daughter are among those who remain unaccounted for after the Bayesian went down as a result of being hit by a tornado on Monday morning.
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Search and rescue operations are ongoing to find survivors of the accident.
Twenty-two people were on board the vessel, 15 of whom were rescued – including Briton Charlotte Golunski and her one-year-old daughter Sofia.
The identities of the five bodies found today are yet to be confirmed.
Superyacht sinks – latest updates
Divers have been searching for survivors. Pic: AP
Pic: AP
Divers involved in the search and rescue operation for the sunken Costa Concordia in 2013 have been called in to stretch the amount of time underwater to 20 minutes per dive. For the past two days, a major challenge for divers had been their limit of 12 minutes on each dive, including the time to go down and come back up.
But the Costa Concordia divers have cylinders containing particular micelles which allow for a longer dive.
Divers have been looking for survivors in the hope that some might be trapped in air pockets inside the ship, but experts believe the chances any are left alive are slim.
As well as Mr Lynch and his daughter Hannah, the others who remain missing are Jonathan Bloomer, chair of Hiscox, and Morgan Stanley International, and his wife Judy Bloomer, and Chris Morvillo, a partner at Clifford Chance, and his wife Neda Morvillo.
Divers from the local fire service have been entering the water with torches attached to their headgear at the site of the shipwreck on Wednesday afternoon.
A police boat was also at the scene, while a helicopter hovered overhead.
Pic: PA
Dr Jamie Pringle, a reader in forensic geoscience at Keele University, told Sky News there have been cases where people have survived for about 60 hours in similar depths of water.
But he says they are “very rare” and the longer time goes on, the less likely it is they will be found alive.
Simon Boxall, a senior lecturer in oceanography at the University Of Southampton, said it is “fairly certain” they are still onboard.
He said it is also possible they were thrown from the boat and into the sea, so a search of the surrounding waters will continue.
Pic: Reuters
Sky News correspondent Ashna Hurynag reported that eight divers from across Italy had been working to find survivors.
In total, there are between 20 and 50 emergency personnel involved in the operation.
The Bayesian, a 56-metre (184ft) British-flagged yacht, went down in a storm early on Monday as it was moored a short distance offshore.
