Italian prosecutors 'not ruling out homicide' as heartbreaking new details revealed over sinking of Bayesian superyacht
24 August 2024, 09:56 | Updated: 24 August 2024, 11:12
Italian prosecutors are "not ruling out homicide" as they launch an investigation into the sinking of the Bayesian superyacht, which left seven dead.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
British tech tycoon Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter, Hannah, were among those recovered after the vessel sank near Porticello at around 5am local time on Monday.
Hannah was found alone in her own cabin 50 metres below the surface, rescue workers revealed during a press conference on Saturday.
Five others were found in a separate compartment: Hannah's father, Mike Lynch, Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer, his wife Judy Bloomer, Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda Morvillo.
Meanwhile, the body of Canadian-Antiguan national Recaldo Thomas, who was the chef on the boat, was recovered close to the ship on Monday.
Speaking in court on Saturday, Ambrogio Cartosio, public prosecutor of nearby town Termini Imerese, said that his office has opened an initial investigation into manslaughter.
He said that "behaviours that were not perfectly in order" may have been behind the number of deaths off the coast of Sicily at a news conference on Saturday.
But all lines of inquiry are being considered, he said.
Firefighter Bentivoglio Fiandra said the yacht had already sunk when they received the emergency call.
It was on its right-hand side with those who died having been "trying to hide in the cabins on the left-hand side" of the vessel.
"You may want to know where we recovered the bodies of the victims. I can tell you... that the ship sunk and was laid onto its right hand side at the bottom of the sea," he said.
"It's quite clear that the people were trying to hide in the cabins on the left-hand side and we found the first five bodies in the first cabin on the left-hand side and the final body in the third cabin on the left-hand side.
"There were six cabins: three on the left-hand side and three on the right-hand side. We found them on the highest part of the ship going towards the surface."
In response to the delay in authorities informing the public of the details of its rescue operation, Mr Cartosio said Italian civil codes prevented him from saying more.
He said he personally believed it created "notable obstacles" when it came to transparency with the public.
He said it quickly became apparent that it would be "impossible" to save those trapped on the yacht as it sank.
He said: "The Public Prosecutor's Office of Termini Imerese has registered a file with the state against unknown persons, hypothesising the crimes of negligent shipwreck and multiple negligent manslaughter."
"Generally a prosecutor is never satisfied to give this information at this stage, precisely because developments could change," Mr Cartosio added.
"We cannot exclude anything at all but what, there has been a lot of media interest with regards to the people were involved.
"But at the same time I believe it is right to anticipate developments of this inquiry can be very variable."
The main questions being raised are around how a yacht deemed "unsinkable" by its manufacturer managed to sink while nearby vessels were mostly unaffected.
Dr Jean-Baptiste Souppez, an engineering lecturer at Aston University, told LBC: "We're looking at vessels that are very safe, that are built to very strong and rigorous engineering standards. For the vessel of that side to find itself going down without any major structure of failure.
"The accounts of the divers are that the vessel is pretty much intact. So that's something that's very puzzling.
"We know that there was a report of very strong but very localised weather, so what we call a water spout, or essentially a mini tornado over the sea, and that could contribute to explaining why this vessel was affected when another vessel a couple of 100 metres away was not.
"But there's also questions being asked about the preparation of the vessel and the crew, with respect to the weather alerts that day."
Some 15 people survived the wreck. The group of survivors were picked up in a life raft by a nearby boat after firing a flare into the night sky.
