A body recovered near the luxury yacht which sank off the coast of Sicily is believed to be that of chef Recaldo Thomas.

The Canadian-Antiguan national was one of 22 people aboard the Bayesian when it sank during a violent storm on Monday.

His friend Gareth Williams described him as well-loved and kind, with “the deepest, most sultry voice in the world, and a smile that lit up the room.”

Divers are struggling to reach the cabins of the sunken vessel as they search for six missing passengers including the British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch and the Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer.

The Bayesian capsized around 700m (2,300ft) from Porticello, just east of Sicily’s capital Palermo, early on Monday morning.

Of the 22 people on board, 15 survived and so far only one body, that of Recaldo Thomas, has been found.

Mr Williams said he had known the chef for 30 years as they had grown up together in Antigua, where Thomas lived during yachting’s off-season.

“He told me just the other day that he needed to work two more seasons to fix up his late parents’ house. He loved yachting, but he was tired,” Mr Williams told the BBC’s Insaf Abbas.

Another friend, Eli Fuller, said he first met the chef 25 years ago and that he was a role model to young people.

“Personality was very important in his job. The world’s richest people want to hang out with someone social. He was sought after,” Mr Fuller said.

“The kids would see all these white people working on yachts. For them to see an Antiguan man travelling all over the world – it was important for our community,” he added.

The Italian coastguard said on Tuesday afternoon that their search was continuing and that divers were working out how to safely enter the wreckage.

Earlier a member of the diving team, Marco Tilotta, said accessing it had been difficult because the hull of the Bayesian is titled at a 90 degree angle on the seafloor.

He told Reuters news agency that there was a “a world of objects” obstructing the narrow stairs leading into the cabins.

“We are not stopping,” he added. “We have resources, manpower and means. Our goal is to find all the people who are missing, so that is our job.”

Divers are only able to spend around 12 minutes underwater, meaning that by the time they reach the wreckage, they only have about 10 minutes to search it.

As well as several teams of divers, the coastguard said they had five patrol boats, at least two helicopters and a remotely operated underwater vehicle.

Specialist divers trained to operate in small spaces have been flown in from Rome and Sardinia.

The sailing vessel, which was 56m (183ft) long and flying a British flag, was carrying 10 crew and 12 passengers when it sank.

Among the missing are Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, as well as Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy.

Neda Morvillo, an American jewellery designer, and her husband Chris are also missing. The news was confirmed by his law firm Clifford Chance.

Mr Lynch was acquitted in June of multiple fraud charges relating to the $11bn (£8.6bn) sale of his company Autonomy to the US computing giant Hewlett-Packard in 2011.

A relative of one of the survivors said lawyers who had represented Mr Lynch in the legal proceedings – where Mr Bloomer had been a defence witness – had been invited on board the Bayesian to celebrate.

Ayla Ronald, a senior associate at Clifford Chance, and her husband were among the people rescued from the yacht when it sank.

What caused the vessel to capsize has not been confirmed, but witnesses said they saw a waterspout form during the storm that took hold prior to the Bayesian sinking.

According to BBC Weather, they appear similar to tornadoes – rotating columns of wind protruding from the base of clouds down to the ground – but occur over water instead of land.