Six individuals, including Jonathan Bloomer, chairman of Morgan Stanley International bank, and Chris Morvillo, a lawyer from Clifford Chance, remain missing following the sinking of a luxury yacht off the Sicilian coast during a storm on Monday, according to Sicily's Civil Protection agency.

British technology mogul Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah were initially reported missing after the incident about 700 meters from the Mediterranean island's shore.

The Bayesian, a 56-meter yacht, was carrying a total of 22 people – 12 passengers and 10 crew members – comprising British, United States, and Canadian nationals.

The luxury yacht went down near Palermo's coast at around 5 am local time, after a heavy storm caused waterspouts, or rotating columns of air and mist, reported the BBC.

Fifteen individuals were rescued, among them a 1-year-old British girl.

Sicily's Civil Protection Agency confirmed that the body of the ship's cook, a Canadian who had been residing in Antigua, had been recovered, according to Italian newspaper la Repubblica.

Italian news agency Ansa cited witnesses saying the Bayesian had its anchor down when the storm hit, resulting in the mast snapping and the vessel capsizing before sinking.

According to local media, Salvo Cocina of Sicily's Civil Protection Agency said: "They were in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Specialized fire and rescue divers, experts in confined-space operations, were flown in from Rome and Sardinia on Monday, said the BBC.

However, their initial exploration of the sunken vessel, located approximately 50 meters beneath the surface, proved unsuccessful.

"Access was limited only to the bridge, with difficulty due to the presence of furniture obstructing passage," the Italian fire department stated in a social media post.

Mike Lynch, dubbed "the British Bill Gates" in media reports, is a technology entrepreneur, who recently celebrated his acquittal in a high-profile fraud case related to the $11 billion sale of his company, Autonomy, to US computing giant Hewlett-Packard, or HP. He had reportedly been facing two decades in jail, and invited his legal team aboard the yacht to celebrate the result of the case.

The incident in Sicily coincides with the death of Lynch's co-defendant in the fraud case, Stephen Chamberlain, after an accident in Cambridgeshire, in the United Kingdom on Saturday. Chamberlain was hit by a car while jogging.

Morvillo, a prominent lawyer, worked on Lynch's trial and the investigation into the 2001 9/11 New York terror attacks. Bloomer is the 70-year-old British chairman of Morgan Stanley International and of insurance company Hiscox. Both their wives are among the six missing individuals.

Lynch's wife, Angela Bacares, was rescued along with 14 others, including a mother who held her 1-year-old baby above the waves, reported Sky News.

A spokesperson for Morgan Stanley said the company was "deeply shocked and saddened" and added: "Our thoughts are with all those affected, in particular the Bloomer family, as we all wait for further news from this terrible situation."