‘British Bill Gates’ identified in Sicily sunken yacht disaster as search for sixth body continues

The body of tech magnate Mike Lynch, who has been dubbed the ‘British Bill Gates', has reportedly been retrieved from the the wreck of a yacht that sank in Sicily .

The superyacht - called the Bayesian - sunk after a violent storm off the coast of Sicily earlier this week on August 19.

There were 22 people on the ship including 12 passengers and 10 crew. 15 of those were rescued using lifeboats, while others remain missing.

Initial reports indicated that those missing included technology tycoon Mike Lynch; his 18-year-old daughter Hannah; Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer; his wife Judy Bloomer; Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo; and his wife Neda Morvillo.

A source close to the rescue operation has now said Lynch's body has been retrieved from the wreck, Reuters reports.

Authorities confirmed Lynch and his daughter's body had been recovered from the wreck. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

The body is the fifth to be recovered from the wreckage, and was taken to the port of Porticello in a blue body bag just after 8.45am local time on Thursday (August 22).

Divers had been entering the water with torches attached to their headgear at the site of the shipwreck on Wednesday afternoon.

An expert in forensic geoscience, Dr Jamie Pringle, spoke to Sky News and said there have been cases where people have survived in similar depths of water, however he said these occurrences are ‘very rare’

One body recovered at the scene on Monday was identified as Canadian-Antiguan national Recaldo Thomas, who'd been employed as a chef on the yacht.

Gareth Williams, a friend of the chef, told the BBC: “I can talk for everyone that knew him when I say he was a well-loved, kind human being with a calm spirit.”

The Italian coastguard Vincenzo Zagarola also spoke to the media about the whereabouts of the missing individuals. He had previously the missing tourists were feared dead.

Divers were attempting to find the other passengers. (Alberto Pizzoli via Getty Images)

He told the PA news agency: “We think they are still inside the boat, that is our very hard idea. Of course, we do not exclude that they are not inside the boat, but we know the boat sank quickly.

“We suppose that the six people missing may not have had time to get out of the boat.”

Lynch had been dubbed by many over the years as the 'British Bill Gates' and recently hit headlines due to an ongoing fraud case.

In June, the 59-year-old was cleared by a US jury of all charges in a high-profile fraud case in relation to the sale of his software company.

He was cleared of 15 counts of fraud after Silicon Valley giant Hewlett-Packard purchased his company Autonomy for $11.1 billion in 2011.