There were 22 passengers and crew on board, 15 of whom managed to escape in a lifeboat
Investigations are continuing into the cause behind the sinking of Mike Lynch’s luxury yacht off the coast of Sicily, with the Italian coast guard noting what it knows so far at a news conference.
Seven people on board the Bayesian, a 56m sailing vessel, died when it sank in bad weather on August 19, according to the BBC.
There were 22 passengers and crew on board, 15 of whom managed to escape in a lifeboat.
At the first press conference on the tragedy, at a court in Sicily’s Termini Imerese on Saturday, Italian prosecutors confirmed that a manslaughter investigation had been launched into the seven deaths in the wreck.
Officials could not answer a series of questions from the media, saying they needed time to establish the facts, but shed light on some previously unknown details.
A homicide investigation has been launched
A manslaughter investigation has been launched into the deaths of seven people in the wreck.
British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah died, along with Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer, his wife Judy Bloomer, Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda Morvillo , and Recaldo Thomas, who worked as a chef on the yacht.
All the bodies have now been recovered.
Termini Imerese prosecutor general Ambrogio Cartosio said his office has opened an initial investigation into manslaughter and negligent wreck.
He told reporters they would determine whether the captain, crew, people responsible for supervision, the shipbuilder or others could be held responsible.
He added: “We will determine the responsibility of each member. This will be done by the survey, so we cannot do it prematurely.
“To me, it is possible that offenses were committed, so there is a possibility that it was manslaughter, but we can only prove that if you give us the time to investigate.
“The time of the media is completely different from that of a prosecutor. We need time to come to a proper conclusion.”
The investigation is currently Italian with local involvement, but Mr Cartosio said: “I cannot tell you for sure that the investigation will be exclusively Italian.
“There will be developments, I’m sure.”
The yacht was hit by a downburst, not a water turbine
Witnesses described seeing a wave of water form during the storm before the Bayesian yacht sank, which looks like a hydrofoil, a type of tornado that forms over water.
However, deputy prosecutor Raffaele Cammarano told the press conference that “from the information we have, this is the downburst effect.”
BBC meteorologist Ben Rich said a “downburst” occurs when air moves down from the base of the cloud, producing a strong gust of wind that blows towards the ground. When it reaches the ground, the wind spreads out, blowing unpredictably outward in various directions.
He added that it can be confused with tornadoes or hydro-turbines because the damage caused can be similar.
The naval director of western Sicily, Rear Admiral Raffaele Macauda, said the weather at the time of the yacht’s sinking was abnormal and there was nothing to suggest such an extreme situation would arise.
He said at the press conference that there was no warning for a water turbine.
Officials said they would look into how a “downburst” could have affected the Bayesian and not other ships nearby.
Many bodies were found together
The body of Recaldo Thomas, who worked as a chef on the yacht, was found outside the vessel and was the first to be located.
The bodies of the remaining six people were recovered from cabins on the left side of the yacht after the sinking, the head of the Palermo fire department said.
Girolamo Bentivoglio said specialist divers trying to retrieve the bodies had “very little visibility due to weather conditions” and were called in from across the country as part of a search and rescue operation involving “around 70 people” a day.
He added: “The yacht apparently nailed to starboard and apparently the [άνθρωποι] they tried to go the other way and then took refuge in their cabins.
“We found four or five bodies in the cabin on the left and there was another one in the third cabin on the left, and it was on the highest part of the wreck.”
Mr Cammarano said the passengers may not have been able to escape the yacht because they were asleep.
Asked why they were not woken up or alerted, he said: “That is exactly what we are trying to establish from the statements made during the interrogation of the survivors – an essential point of the investigation, obviously.”
He said many bodies were found in a single cabin.
He said: “The bodies were found in a cabin that wasn’t theirs, but that doesn’t give us any certainty as to what happened.
“We have no idea why they all ended up in the same cabin.”
There is no obligation for the captain or crew to stay in Sicily
Prosecutors questioned the captain of the Bayesian and his crew.
Asked if the crew would remain in Sicily, Mr Cartosio said: “There is no obligation, but they should be available for the investigation.”
The press conference heard that authorities still have questions to ask the captain, but that they cannot detain people in the country under Italian law.
Mr Cammarano was asked about the crew being tested for alcohol and drugs and said officials were trying to do those tests.
When asked how it was possible that most of the crew managed to survive, he said the incident happened suddenly and the investigation would look into that.
An autopsy has not yet been performed
No information has yet been gathered from the examination of the seven people who died, prosecutors said.
Asked whether post-mortem examinations had been carried out, Mr Cammarano said: “There are a whole number of preliminary stages before autopsies.”
Source :Skai
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