A fisherman who tried to help those on the yacht stayed at the site of the sinking for hours, but found no survivors.

Speaking to Italian press, Fabio Cefalu said: “There were two sailboats half a mile away from the harbour with their anchors at sea.

“After 10 minutes we saw a flare in the sky, we waited about 10 minutes to see the intensity of the tornado and we went out to sea.

“We were first to give rescue but we found no one at sea, we only found cushions and the remains of the boat.”

He added: “I saw this morning at about 3.30am this bad weather that was approaching; we were about to go fishing and we stood still for 20 minutes to see the intensity of the tornado coming.

“At about 3.55am it took us full into the harbour and destroyed everything on the pier, everything.”

On the cause of the sinking, he said: “It could be that the mast broke, or the anchor at the prow pulled it, I don’t know.”