Billionaire Mike Lynch reported dead three days after devastating superyacht sinking

Tech billionaire Mike Lynch has been reported dead three days after his superyacht sank off the coast of Sicily in the early hours of Monday morning. The businessman was one of five bodies found and identified in the search for those missing.

Jonathan Bloomer, his wife Judith Bloomer, lawyer Christopher Morvillo and his wife Neda Morvillo have also been identified, while Lynch's 18-year-old daughter Hannah is still missing. The chef's cook, Recaldo Thomas, has also been confirmed dead.

Divers have been attempting to recover bodies in the wreckage since the accident, which occured due to the freak waterspout, but were unable to initially due to furnishings blocking the pathways inside the yacht.

© Bryn Colton

A friend of Lynch, Brent Hoberman, said his death is " unbelievably tragic ".

"We were all hoping for a miracle - we knew it was unlikely but you still hold out hope," he told Sky News . "It's just so unbelievably tragic for him to go through what he went through over the last 12 years, defending his name and not really living a full life, to now for his death to be confirmed is obviously incredibly sad."

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Speaking about the rescue mission, diver Marco Tilotta said: "We will do everything we can to recover the bodies. The weather conditions are worsening but we hope to continue the operations without problems."

Out of the 22 people on board, which included 10 crew members and 12 passengers, 15 people survived including 35-year-old British woman Charlotte Golunski and her one-year-old daughter Sophia.

Speaking to the Italian publication La Repubblica, she said: "For two seconds I lost my daughter in the sea then quickly hugged her amid the fury of the waves... It was all dark. In the water I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I screamed for help but all I could hear around me was the screams of others."

© Dan Kitwood

Mike and his wife Angela, who survived the sinking with injuries to her feet, held a party on the boat the night before the incident, just two months after the businessman was found not guilty on all counts for fraud following the sale of software company Autonomy after spending almost a year on house arrest while awaiting trial.

His co-defendant, Stephen Chamberlain, died just hours before the accident after being hit by a car while out for a run in Cambridgeshire. His lawyer Gary Lincenberg said: "He was a courageous man with unparalleled integrity, and we deeply miss him. He fought successfully to clear his good name, which lives on through his wonderful family."