WILD footage has captured a tornado lashing a catamaran and tossing it "like a little block of cork" in an ominous precursor to the Bayesian disaster.

The £30m Bayesian yacht sank off the coast of Sicily amid a fierce storm in the early hours of Monday, and now unearthed video of a previous weather event shows how boats can be thrown around by sea twisters.

As wild weather powers into a harbour in Auckland, New Zealand, a lit up mast of a catamaran is seen swinging.

Those who witnesses the storm at Westhaven Marina in 2019 said a tornado damaged nearly boats in what was described as a short but ferocious storm.

The catamaran was picked up and hurled over a pier, according to a report from New Zealand public broadcaster RNZ.

Westhaven Marina manager Kevin Lidgard was shocked by vision of the sudden gale.

He said: "It just defies belief how it picked up a huge catamaran and just threw it over the pier like a little block of cork."

Many were left gobsmacked at how much damage was caused in such a short time frame, Kevin said.

The footage provides some insight into the horrors of early Monday morning, when a deadly tornado over the sea - called a waterspout - is believed to have caused the Bayesian to capsize.

It quickly sank, plunging 50 metres below the sea surface.

While 15 escaped, others were not so fortunate.

The body of chef Recaldo Thomas was first found, with six missing bodies still at large.

Then on Wednesday a further five bodies were recovered, including tech tycoon Mike Lynch, described as Britain's Bill Gates.

Mike's daughter Hannah, 18, was still missing as of Thursday afternoon, according to Reuters.

Divers desperately searching for bodies have been descending to the wreck for days, but only for short intervals because of the powerful water pressure at such depth.

Italian authorities also sent a robot to aid the probe.

Mike, who had an estimated net worth of £500million, had gathered a group of family and friends on the yacht after he was found not guilty in a US fraud trial.

The cruise came as a celebration of his "second life" following the acquittal.

Among the 15 survivors is Mike's wife Angela Barcares, who was anxiously waiting at a hotel near Porticello harbour, near where the yacht sank.

A security staff member described Angela as being locked in a state of shock, Mirror reported.

Sicilian emergency service worker Fabio Genco told the BBC it was "apocalyptic".

He said: "The word that ... all the injured kept repeating was 'darkness', the darkness that they experienced during the shipwreck."

A probe has since been launched to investigate how the yacht sank so quickly.

Captain James Cutfield was grilled by cops for over two hours after rescuers discovered a possibly fatal mistake.

Divers found that the keel, a crucial part of the boat's structure which helps keep it balanced, had been raised when the yacht was anchored off shore.

Captain Cutfield, 51, managed to escape from the vessel as it plunged to the bottom of the ocean and is recovering in hospital.

The skipper, from New Zealand, admitted that the crew "didn't see it coming' when the water tornado struck the boat in the early hours.

Cutfield's brother Mark earlier told the NZ Herald his brother was a "very good sailor".

And he added that Cutfield is "very well respected" in the Mediterranean.

Mark said the captain is currently recovering in hospital, but managed to escape with injuries that were not "too dramatic".