Divers searching for six missing people following the sinking of a superyacht off Sicily in a storm have found two bodies, sources told media.

The discovery brings the confirmed death toll to three. It was not immediately clear who had been found.

The missing include British tech tycoon Mike Lynch and the chairman of Morgan Stanley International Jonathan Bloomer.

The British-flagged Bayesian, a 56-metre-long superyacht, was carrying 22 people, and was anchored off the port of Porticello, near Palermo, when it capsized during a fierce storm on Monday.

Fifteen people survived, while the body of the onboard chef, Canadian-Antiguan national Recaldo Thomas, was found near the wreck hours after the disaster.

Inspection of the wreck, lying sideways at a depth of around 50 metres, was a "long and complex" operation, the Italian fire department said, with inside spaces obstructed by furniture and debris, and scuba divers having just 8-10 minutes beneath the water before needing to resurface.

Separately, the coast guard deployed a remotely operated vehicle to scan the seabed and take underwater pictures and videos that it said may provide "useful and timely elements" for prosecutors looking into the disaster. (Agencies)