One man died and six people were missing after a luxury yacht was struck by an unexpectedly violent storm and sank off the Sicilian capital Palermo on Monday, the Italian coast guard said.
Among those missing was British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, a person familiar with the rescue operation said.
The 56-meter-long (184-ft) sailboat was identified as the British-registered Bayesian and sank with 22 people on board shortly before sunrise, the coast guard said in a statement.
The missing people were of British, American and Canadian nationality, the coast guard said. The 15 people rescued included a one-year-old child.