Factbox: What we know about the sinking of Mike Lynch's superyacht off Sicily
26/08/2024 17:09
(Adds details from coast guard and prosecutors in paragraphs 5
and 19)
ROME, Aug 26 (Reuters) - The sinking of a luxury yacht
on Aug. 19 off the northern coast of Sicily left seven people
dead, including British tech tycoon Mike Lynch, his daughter
Hannah and Morgan Stanley's Jonathan Bloomer.
Here is what we know about the accident.
VIOLENT STORM
The Bayesian, a British flagged 56-metre (184-feet)
superyacht, was anchored off the port of Porticello, near
Palermo, when it sank in the pre-dawn dark amid a very severe
and sudden weather event.
Prosecutor Raffaele Cammarano said on Saturday the event was
most likely a "downburst", a very strong downward wind that is
an intense but relatively frequent event at sea, rather than a
waterspout which involves rotating winds like a tornado.
The coast guard said that given the weather forecast, there
was nothing wrong about the Bayesian being moored offshore
rather than at sheltering at port. Another yacht anchored nearby
emerged from the storm unharmed.
Twenty-two people were on board, and 15 survived, including
nine out of 10 crew members as well as Lynch's wife, whose
company owned the Bayesian. They were found on a life raft. Six
out of the 12 passengers died.
Prosecutors, who have put the yacht's captain James Cutfield
under investigation for manslaughter and shipwreck, said the
ship would have to be pulled out of the water before the
investigation could be concluded.
STERN FIRST WENT DOWN
The Bayesian sent its last signal before sinking via the
tracking Automatic Identification System (AIS) at 0206 GMT,
according to the MarineTraffic website.
Chief Prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio said a red flare alerting
rescue services about the emergency was fired into the sky at
0238 GMT, more than 30 minutes after the boat had gone down.
The head of Palermo's Fire Brigade, Girolamo Bentivoglio
Fiandra, said the boat sank from the stern and is lying on its
starboard side at a depth of around 50 metres (164 feet).
In the yacht, the bodies of the dead were found in the
cabins on the left-hand side of the boat, where the passengers
may have tried to search for remaining bubbles of air, he added.
Prosecutor Cammarano said the passengers were all probably
asleep at the time of the storm which was why they failed to
escape.
'INCOMPREHENSIBLE'
The sinking has puzzled seafarers and nautical engineers,
who have said that it should have taken hours for the Bayesian
to fill up with enough water to sink it, making its swift demise
incomprehensible.
There have been suggestions that one or more portholes,
windows or other openings may have been inadvertently left open
by the crew, or broken or smashed by the storm, letting in
water.
Experts also wondered if the yacht had been moored with its
keel up, potentially compromising its stability. The keel is a
fin-like stabilising structure under the hull, which can be
partially lifted to reduce the depth of the boat in shallow
waters or harbours.
Prosecutors have said it was too early to comment on either
hypothesis. They also said crew members were not immediately
tested for alcohol or drugs because they were in a state of
shock when rescued.
UNSINKABLE
The Bayesian was built in 2008 by Perini Navi, an Italian
luxury yacht maker. It featured the world's tallest aluminium
mast, measuring 72 metres, but early reports that the mast broke
in the storm have so far proven unfounded.
Giovanni Costantino, CEO of the Italian Sea Group, which
owns Perini, said the yacht was "one of the safest boats in the
world" and basically unsinkable.
He alleged that the sinking was due to a chain of human
errors given that the storm was expected. He made his assertions
partly based on data from the Automatic Identification System.
The captain and other crew members have not spoken publicly
about the disaster and attempts by Reuters to reach them have
been unsuccessful.
Costantino said that had the crew shut all doors and
hatches, turned on the engine, lifted the anchor, lowered the
keel and turned the yacht to face the wind, it would have
suffered no damage.
He added that data showed it took 16 minutes from when the
wind began buffeting the yacht, and it began taking on water,
for it to sink.
Reuters has not been able to confirm his assertions.
(Reporting by Giselda Vagnoni, additional reporting by Giulia
Segreti, Alvise Armellini, Matteo Negri, Giulio Piovaccari and
Josephine Mason in London; Editing by Sharon Singleton and Ros
Russell)
((mailto:alvise.armellini@thomsonreuters.com;))