Source: AFP
Sicilian prosecutors said on Saturday they were investigating possible manslaughter after a superyacht sank, killing seven people, as it emerged that trapped passengers searched for air pockets after it went down.
British tech tycoon Mike Lynch, his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, four friends and the yacht’s cook died when the British-flagged Bayesian sank in a storm before dawn on Monday.
“The Prosecutor’s Office of Termini Imerese has filed a case against the state against unknown persons, alleging the crimes of negligent wreck and multiple negligent homicide,” state prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio told reporters on the Italian island.
But he said he was only announcing the investigation because of the huge international interest in the case, stressing: “We are only in the initial phase of investigations.
“At this stage, precisely because the investigation could go either way, we are not ruling anything out.”
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Lynch, 59, had invited friends and family on board to celebrate his recent acquittal in a massive US fraud case.
But the 56m yacht was hit by what looked like a mini-tornado before dawn on Monday as it was moored off Porticello, near Palermo.
Fifteen people were rescued and the body of the yacht’s chef was found a short time later. Six passengers are missing.
A major search operation involving specialist divers subsequently identified the bodies of four of Leeds’ friends on Wednesday.
Lynch’s body was found on Thursday and that of his daughter, who was preparing to attend Oxford University, on Friday.
Scrabbing for air
The bodies were found in two cabins on the side of the ship closest to the surface, and officials said they believed the trapped passengers had moved there in an attempt to find air pockets.
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The ship sank from its stern — the rear — and came to rest on its starboard side on the sea floor, about 50 meters below, said Girolamo Bentivoglio Fiandra of the fire service.
He told reporters that passengers inside “took refuge to seek safety in the cabins on the left side where somehow the last air bubbles formed.”
“We found the first five bodies in the first cabin on the left side and the last body in the third cabin on the left side,” he said.
Bayesian’s emergency blast had gone off at 4.38am. (0238 GMT) on Monday morning and the coast guard was immediately deployed — but by the time they got there, it had already sunk.
Sudden, unexpected
Contrary to earlier reports, Raffaele Macauda, from the Sicilian Coast Guard, said there was no storm warning that night.
“It was a sudden and unexpected event,” added Raffaele Camarano, another prosecutor.
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Officials said the crew were free to leave Sicily during the investigation.
Information about whether the yacht’s doors were open — which may explain why it sank so quickly — could not be confirmed until the wreckage was recovered, officials said.
This can take weeks.
Lynch, once dubbed Britain’s “Bill Gates,” founded software company Autonomy in the 1990s. His $11 billion sale to Hewlett-Packard in 2011 led to him facing fraud charges in the United States.
A jury in San Francisco acquitted the 59-year-old and a co-defendant of all charges in June.
After Hannah’s body was brought ashore on Friday, her family released a statement describing their “unspeakable grief”.
“The Lynch family is devastated, in shock and is being comforted and supported by family and friends,” it said.
US lawyer Chris Morvillo, a partner at leading law firm Clifford Chance who worked on the US trial, also died along with his wife Neda.
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The bodies of Jonathan Bloomer, the chairman of Morgan Stanley International, and his wife Judy were also found.
The chef was named in various media as Canadian-Antiguan Recaldo Thomas.
Source: AFP
