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According to witnesses, the vessel - a 56m (184ft) luxury yacht that was carrying 22 people - was struck by a powerful storm in the early hours of the morning.
It was reportedly anchored to the seabed outside the harbour at Porticello, east of Palermo, when what the Italian coastguard described as a "violent storm" hit.
Witnesses told that the force of the storm caused the ship's 72m (236ft) aluminium mast to snap in half and the boat became unbalanced.
It disappeared beneath the water at around 05:00 local time.
A local fisherman told reporters he saw a waterspout in the vicinity, a form of tornado that occurs over water rather than land and can generate powerful winds.
Salvo Cocina, head of Sicily's civil protection agency, said of those on board the Bayesian: "They were in the wrong place at the wrong time."
