British billionaire Mike Lynch confirmed as one of five bodies recovered from sunken yacht disaster

Tech tycoon Mike Lynch has been identified as one of the five bodies recovered from sunken superyacht.

The Bayesian ship sank just off the coast of Sicily after getting caught up in a tornado in the early hours of Monday, 19 August.

The boat was about half a mile off the coast of Porticello when it became submerged.

Tech mogul Mike Lynch has been confirmed as one of the five bodies found (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

British billionaire Lynch has been confirmed as being one of the bodies found inside the sunken yacht after he was named as missing along with his daughter Hannah, Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer, his wife Judy Bloomer, Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda Morvillo.

On Thursday morning, it was announced that five bodies had been retrieved from the wreckage, with one person still missing.

The Italian Coastguard told PA news agency that the sixth and final person still yet to be found is a woman.

Speaking to Sky News, a friend of Lynch, Brent Hoberman, said they were “all hoping for a miracle”.

He continued: “We knew it was unlikely but you still hold out hope. 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.”

The CCTV footage shows the moments before the superyacht sank (Giornale di Sicilia)

There were 15 people aboard the ship, including the tech tycoon’s wife, Angela Bacares, who were rescued after escaping onto a lifeboat.

The body of chef Recaldo Thomas, a Canadian-Antiguan man working onboard, was recovered near the yacht.

Italy’s fire brigade Vigili del Fuoco had previously referred to the search operation as “complex” with underwater divers taking 12-minute shifts.

CCTV footage captured the final moments on the yacht before it was engulfed by a storm.

In regards to the footage, Giornale di Sicilia said: “In just 60 seconds - says the owner of the villa - you can see the ship disappear.

“Of about 20 cameras installed in the house, only one was not disturbed by the wind and rain. You can clearly see what is happening.

“There was nothing that could be done for the boat. It disappeared in a very short time.”

Businessman Lynch who founded software company Autonomy in 1996 was cleared of conducting fraud on an $11 billion sale to US firm Hewlett Packard.

The superyacht sank just off the coast of Italy (Vincenzo Pepe/Getty Images)

Sicily civil protection director-general Salvo Cocina previously told The Telegraph: “On behalf of myself and my colleagues, I would like to express my deepest sympathy to the families of the victims and express our condolences to them at this difficult time.”

This comes after police boats, divers, fire crews, remotely controlled underwater vehicles and cave divers have been involved in the search, the Italian Coastguard has said.

Vincenzo Zagarola, of the Italian Coastguard, previously said the missing tourists were feared dead.

Meanwhile, Bloomer's twin brother, Jeremy, told the BBC that his family is “coping the best they can”.

He said: “It’s a slow process and it will take time. So there might be air pockets, but we don’t know.

“He was my older [brother] by half an hour. So it means a lot when you lose a twin brother. It’s still wait and see, so fingers crossed.

“I’m just numb, just numb. That's it, you don't know what to think and you can’t believe it’s happened.”