One of the six persons reported missing after a luxury boat sank off the coast of Sicily early on Monday morning is British software millionaire Mike Lynch.

There were twelve passengers and ten crew members on board the 56-meter (183-foot) sailboat, including citizens of Canada, the United States, and Britain. Fifteen individuals were saved by emergency personnel, one of them a British girl, age one.

The yacht, registered as Bayesian, sank, according to local media, following an overnight violent storm that produced waterspouts, or whirling columns of air, across the ocean.

Mr. Lynch, dubbed "the British Bill Gates" by some, co-founded Autonomy, a software company that tech behemoth Hewlett-Packard eventually acquired for $11 billion (£8.6 billion).

Witnesses told Italian news agency Ansa that the Bayesian’s anchor was down when the storm struck, causing the mast to break and the ship to lose its balance and sink.

A waterspout is similar to a tornado and can form over oceans, seas or large lakes.

Divers have identified a wreckage 50m below the water's surface and are searching for those missing.

BBC Verify has looked at corporate records and found that Bayesian is tied to his wife, Angela Bacares.

Sources close to the matter have confirmed to the BBC Ms Bacares has been rescued.

The body of one man has been found outside of the wreckage. His nationality has not been confirmed.

Fifteen people managed to get to safety after the storm hit.

Ansa news agency reported a 35-year-old mother held her one-year-old daughter in her arms in the sea.

The woman, only named as Charlotte, said: "For two seconds I lost the little girl in the sea, then I immediately hugged her again amidst the fury of the waves.

"I held her tightly, close to me, while the sea was stormy. Many were screaming.

"Luckily the lifeboat inflated and 11 of us managed to get on board."

The baby is fine and the mother was treated with stitches, the agency added.

In the initial aftermath, a nearby Dutch-flagged vessel rescued survivors from the waves, tending to them until emergency services arrived.

Captain Karsten Borner said after the storm had passed, the crew noticed that the yacht that had been behind them had disappeared.

"We saw a red flare, so my first mate and I went to the position, and we found this life raft drifting," he told .

That life raft was carrying 15 survivors, three of whom were "heavily injured", he said.

An inflatable boat sent from another vessel was observed rescuing passengers, a local fisherman told the Reuters news agency.

A local fishing trawler's skipper reported seeing deck cushions and other debris floating in the water.

Video footage recovered from the wreck scene shows helicopters flying overhead a number of coast guard ships while bright orange-clad divers dove into the ocean.

As reported by the Italian Coastguard, eight of the rescued are undergoing medical attention in a hospital.

The western half of the Mediterranean has experienced severe storms since the middle of last week.

Through Sunday night and into Monday morning, a clutch of bad weather passed by the north coast of Sicily.

BBC Weather Forecaster Matt Taylor said: "A waterspout is a tornado that has occurred over water rather than land.

"They can form during intense storms, on the base of cumulonimbus/thunder clouds.

"Turbulence, and the wind blowing in slightly different directions around the cloud, can cause rotation under the base of the cloud and the spout to form.

"Like tornadoes, they bring powerful winds, but instead of picking up dust and debris they cause a water mist around the column of rotating air."

The UK Foreign Office said it was aware of the incident and in contact with local authorities.

The Bayesian is managed by Camper and Nicholsons International.

A spokesperson told BBC Verify: "Our priority is assisting with the ongoing search and providing all necessary support to the rescued passengers and crew."