UK tech tycoon Mike Lynch missing after yacht sinks off Sicily

UK businessman Mike Lynch, who was recently acquitted in the United States of an $11 billion fraud, is among those missing on Monday after a superyacht sank off southern Italy, according to the head of the Civil Protection Agency.

The 56-metre-long luxury yacht, The Bayesian, had been moored off Porticello, east of Palermo, when the storm swept suddenly up the coast before dawn, tearing through beach clubs and little fishing ports.

The missing people were of British, American and Canadian nationality, the coast guard said. The 15 people rescued included a one-year-old child.

Lynch's wife was also among those 15 rescued after the luxury yacht sank amid violent winds and rain off the Sicily coast, according to Salvo Cocina of the Civil Protection Agency, leaving six others missing.

Italian authorities have opened a probe into the incident as the emergency response continued on Monday.

Lynch, 59, was acquitted on all charges in a San Francisco court in early June after he was accused of the massive fraud linked to the sale of his software firm Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard.

He co-founded Autonomy in Cambridge in 1996.

US prosecutors accused Lynch of wire fraud and securities fraud, and conspiracy to commit offences involving years of falsified records.

He had been extradited to the US from Britain to stand trial on the criminal charges.

A University of Cambridge graduate from Suffolk in eastern England, Lynch had disputed all charges and denied any wrongdoing. He was facing two decades in jail if convicted of the 17 charges.

A spokesperson for Invoke Capital, another firm he founded, declined to comment.

Lynch was reportedly on board the boat with colleagues from the company when the storm struck.

The sailboat sank with 22 people on board shortly before sunrise, the coast guard said in a statement.

"The wind was very strong. Bad weather was expected, but not of this magnitude," a coast guard official in Palermo told Reuters.

Storms and heavy rainfall have swept down Italy in recent days - with floods and landslides causing major damage in the north of the country - after weeks of scorching heat.

Eight of those rescued were transferred to local hospitals. All were in stable condition, local media reported.

A UK foreign ministry spokesperson said British officials were in contact with local authorities over the incident and were ready to provide consular support for Britons who were affected.