A controversial tech tycoon is missing after a superyacht sank off the coast of Sicily

• Mike Lynch is missing after a superyacht sank off the coast of Sicily, reports said.
• One person died and six others, including Lynch, are missing. His wife was rescued.
• Lynch, founder of Autonomy, was recently cleared of multibillion-dollar fraud charges in the US.

Mike Lynch, a controversial British tech tycoon, is believed to be missing after a superyacht he was on sank off the coast of Sicily.

The 56-meter superyacht, named the "Bayesian," sank in the early hours of Monday close to Porticello, Palermo, during bad weather.

At the time of writing, one person has died and six others are thought to be missing out of 12 guests and 10 crew who were on board.

A person close to the rescue operation told Reuters that Lynch was among those missing.

The area was struck by a strong storm and tornado around an hour before the boat sank, according to a statement by the City Council of Bagheria cited by CNBC News.

Lynch's wife, Angela Bacares, was rescued, The Telegraph said.

Charlotte Emsley recalled how she kept her one-year-old child alive by holding her head above the water.

"I held her afloat with all my strength, my arms stretched upwards to keep her from drowning," she told reporters at la Repubblica, an Italian news outlet, according to a translation by the BBC.

"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."

Divers saw "corpses through the portholes" of the wreck during rescue efforts, according to Salvo Cocina, the head of the Civil Protection of Sicily, cited by Sky News. They found the body of a man at a depth of 50 meters.

Local media suggested it belonged to the vessel's chef. Business Insider could not verify the claims.

The owner of the superyacht is Revtom Ltd, which is registered in the Isle of Man.

According to Reuters, the captain of a nearby boat and the owner of the Bayesian are among those missing.

A local fire department told CNBC News that "divers, a motorboat and a helicopter," were helping with the search.

Lynch, the founder of British software company Autonomy, was recently cleared of multibillion-dollar fraud charges.

He was extradited to the US last year over accusations that he artificially inflated the value of Autonomy to defraud Hewlett Packard, who purchased it in 2011 for $11 billion.

In November 2012, HP announced an $8.8 billion writedown related to the Autonomy acquisition, with $5 billion due to what it said were "accounting irregularities" that led HP to massively overpay for Autonomy.

Lynch, a former UK government advisor, always maintained his innocence. His lawyers called the charges a "travesty of justice" that "had no place in a US court."

The tech tycoon, who faced more than 20 years in prison if convicted, had been preparing to set up a campaign to help wrongly accused Britons in the US, according to The Telegraph.

Representatives for Mike Lynch did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This story is developing.