ROME: Work to raise a superyacht that sank in Sicily last year, killing a UK tech mogul and six others, was suspended Saturday after the death of a specialized diver, according to local news reports.

The diver was part of a team working to raise the 56-meter (185-foot) “Bayesian” yacht that was struck by a pre-dawn storm in August last year while anchored off Porticello, near Palermo.

The yacht sunk within minutes after being struck by something akin to a mini-tornado, killing British tech tycoon Mike Lynch, his teenage daughter and five others.

Authorities suspended work on raising the vessel after prosecutors opened an investigation Friday into the death of a 39-year-old diver, according to Italian media.

According to initial reports, the diver was part of a team working to cut and remove the 75-meter mast, a first step before recovery of the yacht itself, which is lying on its side on the seabed some 50 meters down.

TMC Marine, the British company working to raise the superyacht, did not immediately respond to an AFP request for more information.

In a statement Friday cited by news reports, TMC Marine said it was cooperating with the probe and that “the circumstances of the accident are currently being investigated by the authorities.”

Work to bring up the yacht began last week, with Italy’s coast guard saying it would take up to 25 days.

Inquests into the deaths of the five British victims of the yacht sinking are currently being held in Ipswich, in eastern England.

In Italy, prosecutors in Termini Imerese have opened investigations into the captain and three others on suspicion of manslaughter and the crime of negligent shipwreck.

Lynch, the 59-year-old founder of software firm Autonomy, had invited friends and family onto the boat to celebrate his recent acquittal in a huge US fraud case.