Factbox: What we know about the sinking of the superyacht off Sicily
22/08/2024 12:55
(Adds industry expert in third section, details on mast in
fourth, on keel in fifth, quotes from Italian Sea Group CEO in
sixth, on investigation and captain in last section)
ROME, Aug 22 (Reuters) -
Seven people are believed to have died, including British
tech tycoon Mike Lynch and Morgan Stanley's Jonathan Bloomer,
after a luxury yacht belonging to Lynch's family sank off the
northern coast of Sicily on Monday.
Here is what we know about the Aug. 19 accident.
VIOLENT STORM
The Bayesian, a British flagged 56-metre (184-feet)
superyacht, sank in the dark shortly before 5 am (0300 GMT) off
the port of Porticello, near Palermo, after being hit by a
"violent storm," the Italian coast guard said.
The coast guard said bad weather had been forecast, but
added that it was more virulent than expected.
Some locals spoke of a waterspout, or sea whirlwind, of
exceptional force.
THE OTHER BOAT
The nearby yacht, the 42-metre Sir Robert Baden Powell,
remained anchored and weathered the storm after its captain
turned on the engine to keep control and avoid a collision with
the Bayesian.
The captain, Karsten Borner, said he did not know if the
crew of the Bayesian had managed to switch on its engines.
"I only know that they went flat with the mast on the water
and that they sank in two minutes," he said.
'INCOMPREHENSIBLE'
Andrea Ratti, a nautical design professor at Milan
Polytechnic university, said a boat the size of the Bayesian
could only sink so rapidly by taking in a huge amount of water.
He suggested that one or more portholes, windows or other
openings may have been left open, broken or smashed by the
waterspout, letting in water.
However, an industry expert in Britain said it should
have taken hours for the Bayesian to fill up with enough water
to sink it, making its swift demise incomprehensible.
Matthew Schanck, chair of Britain's Maritime Search and
Rescue Council, said the Bayesian was the victim of a so-called
black swan, a rare event with a high impact.
RECORD MAST
The Bayesian featured the world's tallest aluminium
mast, measuring 72 metres.
A tall mast has a lot of surface area exposed to the
wind, but Ratti and structural engineer Filippo Mattioni said it
is not by itself an element of vulnerability in a storm.
Fire department diver Marco Tilotta said the wreck was
intact and the mast was still attached. He added, that divers
had not been able to inspect the full length of the mast but the
section they had seen was undamaged.
RETRACTABLE KEEL
The Bayesian had a retractable keel - a stabilising
structure under the hull which can be partially lifted to reduce
the depth of the ship when entering shallow waters or harbours.
Both Ratti and Mattioni wondered if the yacht had been
anchored with the keel up, compromising its stability in a
violent storm.
UNSINKABLE
The Bayesian was built in 2008 by Perini Navi, an
Italian luxury yacht maker. It was refitted twice but not by
Perini, a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
Giovanni Costantino, CEO of the Italian Sea Group
TISGR.MI , which owns Perini, said the yacht was "one of the
safest boats in the world" and basically unsinkable.
He added that its sinking was due to a chain of human
errors given that the storm was expected, speaking in interviews
to Italian media.
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, they would have suffered "zero damage", the
CEO said.
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.
(Reporting by Giselda Vagnoni, additional reporting by Giulia
Segreti, Alvise Armellini, Matteo Negri and Josephine Mason in
London; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
((alvise.armellini@thomsonreuters.com;))