Matthew Griffiths, crew member of the yacht Bayesian which sank in Sicily, who was on duty the night of the tragedy, stated that he “woke up the captain when the wind speed was 20 knots (s.p. about 40 km/h)”.

“I was watching the weather all night, especially the wind that reached 20 knots. Then I immediately woke up the captain who took over the operation. He ordered everyone to wake up,” assures Matthew Griffiths, according to the Italian news agency Ansa and several daily newspapers, which did not mention their source.

Briton Griffiths is one of three crew members being questioned about the cause of the wreck — along with Captain James Catfield and the ship’s engineer Tim Parker Eaton.

He said the boat “tilted and we fell into the sea. We managed to get back on board and tried to make a human chain to save those who reached the deck”.

During his testimony he noted that “the boat was heeled over and we were walking on the walls of it. We saved those we could, also Catfield saved the little girl and his mother.”

The 59-year-old Mike Lynch, a British millionaire businessman known as “Britain’s Bill Gates” was celebrating with friends, associates and his lawyers his acquittal in June in a US fraud trial that could have cost him years in prison.

But his 56m yacht was hit by a mini-tornado while moored off Porticello, near Palermo.

The body of the yacht’s cook was found a short time later and six people, including Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter, were recovered dead by divers in the following days.