Rome: A British-flagged luxury superyacht that sank off Sicily last year, killing UK tech magnate Mike Lynch and six others, resurfaced on Saturday as salvage recovery crews finalised the complex operation to bring it ashore for further investigation.

The Bayesian sank on Aug 19 off Porticello, near Palermo, during a violent storm as Lynch was treating friends to a cruise to celebrate his acquittal two months earlier in the US on fraud charges. Lynch, his daughter and five others died. Fifteen people survived, including the captain and all crew members except the chef.

Italian authorities are conducting a full criminal investigation. TMC Maritime said the vessel has been slowly raised from the seabed, 50 metres (165-feet) down, over the past three days to allow the steel lifting straps, slings and harnesses to be secured under the keel. —AP