PORTICLLO, Sicily | Police divers resumed their search on Tuesday for six people believed to be trapped in the hull of a superyacht that sank off the coast of Sicily. Among them is a British technology magnate who was celebrating his recent acquittal on fraud charges with his defence lawyers in court.

The resting place of their sailboat lies about 50 meters underwater off Porticello – a depth that requires special precautions: Rescue crews said they were working in 12-minute shifts, slowing their efforts to reach the narrow interior of the wreck.

The Bayesian, a 56-metre British-flagged yacht, was anchored about a kilometre offshore when a storm hit before 4 a.m. Monday morning. Civil defence officials believe the vessel was hit by an overwater tornado, known as a waterspout.

Fifteen of the 22 people on board survived, including a mother who reported holding her one-year-old baby over the waves to save him. One body was recovered, identified by officials as the cook on board.

Fire officials have said the other six passengers on board will be considered missing until they are found in the wreckage. Among them is tycoon Mike Lynch, once hailed as Britain’s king of technology, who was acquitted in June of fraud and conspiracy charges in a U.S. federal trial related to Hewlett Packard’s $11 billion takeover of his company, Autonomy Corp.

Also missing are Christopher Morvillo, one of Lynch’s lawyers, and Jonathan Bloomer, chairman of Morgan Stanley International and former head of Autonomy’s audit committee, who testified in Lynch’s defense.

Karsten Borner, the captain of the Sir Robert Baden Powell, which rescued the survivors who managed to get into a lifeboat, said he was close enough to see the Bayesian when the storm hit.

“A moment later she was gone,” he said. “They said they landed flat on the water and sank in two minutes,” Borner added, quoting the survivors.

The rotating search teams, each consisting of two specialized cave divers, worked Tuesday to open access points to reach the interior of the wreck, which lies at a depth well beyond the capabilities of most recreational divers based on their diving licenses.

Divers have not been able to access the cabins below deck because they were blocked by furniture that had been moved during the violent storm. Rescue teams believe the six missing people are in these cabins because the storm hit at a time when most people were sleeping. However, teams have not been able to verify their presence there through portholes.

Luca Cari, a spokesman for the rescue teams, said the search was progressing much slower than in another major shipping accident in Italy, the cruise ship Costa Concordia, which capsized off the coast of Tuscany in 2012, due to the depth of the wreck and the space in which divers had to maneuver.

“That was much easier. Everything is more compact here,” he said.

The trip was intended at least in part as a celebration of Lynch’s acquittal and “anticipation of what was to come next,” said Reid Weingarten, a Washington-based lawyer and member of Lynch’s defense team who was not on the yacht.

“A lot of people went, a lot of people planned to go, and then of course this happened,” Weingarten said.

Some of the people who stood by Lynch throughout the ordeal were also there, including attorney Morvillo, with whom Weingarten had worked and who, according to Weingarten, was “like a brother.”

According to Morvillo’s law firm Clifford Chance, his wife is also missing.

Aki Hussain, CEO of international insurer Hiscox Group, where witness Bloomer was chairman, said the company was “deeply shocked and saddened by this tragic event.”

“Our thoughts are with all those affected, especially our Chairman Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy, who are among the missing, and their families as they await further news on this terrible situation,” he added.

Charlotte Golunski, who survived the accident, said she briefly lost her one-year-old daughter Sofia in the water but then managed to keep her above the waves until a lifeboat inflated and they were both taken to safety, Italian news agency ANSA reported.

The father, identified by ANSA as James Emslie, also survived, as did Lynch’s wife Angela Bacares. Hannah Lynch, the couple’s 18-year-old daughter, is missing.

The registered owner of the yacht is Revtom Ltd, according to the online marine database Equasis, and Bacares is registered as the sole owner of Revtom, according to Isle of Man Companies Registration documents.

The name “Bayesian” could refer to “Bayesian Inference,” one of the two main approaches to statistical machine learning that was also used by Lynch’s company.

Built in 2008 by Italian company Perini Navi, the yacht carried 12 passengers and 10 crew members. According to online charter companies, it was available to charter for 195,000 euros (about $215,000) per week and was notable for its massive 75-meter-high aluminum mast, one of the tallest in the world.

In another context, Lynch’s co-defendant in the Autonomy trial, Stephen Chamberlain, who was also acquitted, was killed on Sunday when he was hit by a car while jogging in Cambridgeshire, England, said Chamberlain’s lawyer Gary Lincenberg.

Winfield reported from Rome. Associated Press writers Eric Tucker in Washington and Danica Kirka and Kelvin Chan in London contributed.

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