An unexpectedly severe storm turned mini tornado sank a luxury yacht in Sicily early Monday, killing one man and leaving six passengers missing, including British software entrepreneur Mike Lynch and his daughter.

The British-flagged “Bayesian“, a 56-meter-long sailboat, was carrying 22 people and was anchored close offshore near the port of Porticello when a tornado sank the luxury yacht by strong weather, according to an Italian coast guard statement.

Eyewitnesses reported that the Tornado sank the luxury yacht in Sicily shortly before sunrise. Fifteen people escaped before the boat sank, including Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, who owned the vessel, and a one-year-old girl.

The names of the deceased and missing were not immediately revealed, but a source acquainted with the rescue operation verified that Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter, Hannah, were not found.

According to Salvatore Cocina, head of Civil Protection in Sicily, the missing people include Jonathan Bloomer, chairman of Morgan Stanley International, and Chris Morvillo, a Clifford Chance lawyer. According to Italian media, the man who died was the yacht’s onboard cook.

According to the Italian Coast Guard, the missing people are British, American, and Canadian. Survivors claimed Lynch planned the vacation for his coworkers.

“The wind was quite fierce. Bad weather was forecast, but not this magnitude,” a Coast Guard spokesman in Sicily’s capital, Palermo, said.

The captain of a nearby boat said that when the gusts increased, he turned on the engine to maintain control of his vessel and prevent colliding with the Bayesian, which was anchored alongside him.

“We managed to keep the ship in position, and after the storm passed, we noticed that the ship behind us had vanished,” Karsten Borner told reporters. The other boat “went flat on the water and then down,” he added.

He stated that his crew discovered several survivors on a life raft, including a baby girl and her mother, and brought them on board before the Coast Guard arrived.

According to the coast guard, divers are checking the wreck of the Bayesian, which is located at a depth of 49 metres. Prosecutors in the nearby town of Termini Imerese have launched an investigation to find out what went wrong.

Storms and heavy rainfall have swept throughout Italy in recent days. This follows weeks of blistering heat that raised the temperature of the Mediterranean Sea to record levels, according to experts, increasing the possibility of extreme weather conditions.

“The sea surface temperature in Sicily was over 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit), nearly three degrees higher than typical. This generates massive energy that adds to these storms,” said meteorologist Luca Mercalli.

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