A 130ft superyacht that sank off the coast of southern Italy in an incident captured by the Italian coastguard reportedly belonged to a Russian oligarch. The dramatic footage showed the luxury yacht Life Saga sinking into the sea after getting into difficulty while sailing from Gallipoli to Milazzo on the island of Sicily.

While crossing the Gulf of Squillace - at the toe-end of the Italian "boot" - the vessel, built in Monaco in 2007, got into trouble, with the captain sending out a distress call late at night on Saturday.

Several reports, including Italian media outlet La Gazzetta Del Mezzogiorno and eastern European outlet Nexta, have since linked the boat to Russian oligarch Gennady Ayvazyan.

The 54-year-old, worth an estimated USD 500million, is the co-owner of Kuzbassrazrezugol Holding and chairman of the Krutrade company, Russia’s second-largest coal exporter. It is understood he took ownership of the boat in 2019.