British technology tycoon Mike Lynch is among six tourists missing after a luxury yacht sank in bad weather off the coast of Sicily.

Four of the missing passengers are British and two are American, Italian news website la Reppublica said.

It comes just weeks after Dr Lynch, 59, was in June cleared of all charges by a US jury in the high-profile fraud case related to the sale of his software company Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard (HP) in 2011.

The daily Il Giornale di Sicilia newspaper reported that the vessel had mostly British passengers on board, but also people from New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Ireland and British-French citizens.

One of the survivors, a British tourist named Charlotte, told la Reppublica she held her one-year-old daughter, Sofia, to stop her from drowning.

She said: “I held her afloat with all my strength, my arms stretched upwards to keep her from drowning.

“It was all dark. In the water, I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I screamed for help but all I could hear around me was the screams of others.”

Charlotte and Sofia are being treated in hospital, as is Charlotte’s husband, James.

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Karsten Borner, captain of a nearby boat, told journalists those missing included the Bayesian’s owner and a child, news agency Reuters reported.

He said his crew took on board some survivors who were on a life raft, including three who were seriously injured.

A spokesman for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said: “We are in contact with the local authorities following an incident in Sicily, and stand ready to provide consular support to British nationals affected.”

Who is Mike Lynch?

Ilford-born Dr Lynch had a firefighter father from County Cork and a mother who was a nurse from County Tipperary in Ireland.

In 2023, the Sunday Times rich list valued him and his wife Angela Bacares, 57, at £852m.