Specialist Italian divers have launched a fresh search for six people missing since their yacht capsized off Sicily before dawn on Monday, AFP reported.

The yacht, the British-flagged Bayesian, had 22 people aboard including 10 crew.

Six people, including UK tech tycoon Mike Lynch, are still missing.

Lynch’s wife Angela Bacares was among 15 people rescued, but the businessman and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah were missing, Salvo Cocina, head of the Civil Protection Agency in Sicily, told AFP.

Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer and Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo are also missing.

A first search of the wreck some 50 metres below the sea surface failed.

“Access was limited only to the bridge, with difficulty due to the presence of furniture obstructing passage,” the firefighters said.