The bodies of two people on board the sunken superyacht in Italy have been recovered by divers investigating the wreck.

The yacht, named Bayesian, had sunk following a violent spell of weather in the early hours of Monday morning - and while 15 survivors had escaped the vessel, its sinking had sparked a large-scale search effort.

On Wednesday afternoon, a source close to the matter said divers had found the bodies of two of the six passengers who were missing.

One of the bodies belonged to a heavily built man, the source said.

Fire department divers, pictured by the harbourside in Sicily

Eerie CCTV footage shows how the superyacht slipped out of sight in a matter of secondsReuters

Rescue teams did not immediately give the names or the sex of the drowned people - who are the second and third victims of the shipwreck to be found.

The body of the yacht's cook, Recaldo Thomas, was located shortly after the vessel sank.

The search for survivors, potentially stuck inside air pockets in the wreck, had entered its third day on Wednesday, but the discovery of the two bodies has dashed hopes on whether specialist divers can find the four remaining passengers.

The six people still unaccounted for on day three had included Mike Lynch, his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, lawyer Chris Morvillo, his jewellery designer wife Neda, Jonathan Bloomer, a non-executive chair of Morgan Stanley International, and his wife Judy.