A 56-meter-long luxury sailboat, the Bayesian, with 22 people on board, sank at dawn on Monday off Porticello, near Palermo, after a tornado hit the area.
Coast guards rescued 15 passengers but seven others were reported missing, including one person whose body was recovered later on Monday morning after firefighter divers reached the boat located at a depth of 49 metres, half a mile from the coast.
One of the survivors is a one-year-old child who was taken to Palermo's paediatric hospital.
The passengers on board the British-flagged boat were mainly from Great Britain, in addition to one citizen of New Zealand, one of Sri Lanka, one Irish national and two passengers with dual British-French citizenship.
The boat sank while it was moored in the harbor of Porticello at Santa Flavia near Palermo.
Carabinieri police, the 118 emergency medical service and the civil protection are aiding survivors.
Port authorities are investigating the accident.
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