Italian fire rescue divers carry the body of one of the victims of the shipwreck in Porticello, Sicily, on Friday, August 23.
Alberto Lo Bianco/LaPresse via AP
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Alberto Lo Bianco/LaPresse via AP
ROME — Prosecutors in Italy said Saturday they have opened an investigation into the deliberate sinking and multiple manslaughter of a superyacht capsized in the storm off the coast of Sicily, killing seven people on board. Among them were British tech tycoon Mike Lynch and his daughter.
Termini Imerese prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio confirmed an investigation had been launched, but said no suspects had yet been identified.
“We are only in the early stages of the investigation. We cannot rule out any developments at this point in time,” he told reporters at a news conference.
Cartosio said his team will carefully consider each possible element of liability, including the responsibilities of the captain, crew, individuals in charge of supervision, shipbuilders and others.
“To me, there is a possibility that a crime has been committed, it could be manslaughter, but we can only determine that if we are given time to investigate,” he said.
The main question investigators are focusing on is why a sailing ship deemed “unsinkable” by its Italian manufacturer Perini Navi sank while a nearby sailboat was left largely undamaged.
Prosecutors said the event was “extremely rapid” and that information they gathered appeared to indicate a “violent gale,” a locally powerful gust of wind that comes down from a thunderstorm and spreads rapidly once it hits the ground.
Civil Protection officials initially said they believed the yacht, which has a distinctive 75-meter (246-foot) aluminum mast, had been hit by an overwater tornado, also known as a waterspout.
Investigators were also asked why almost the entire crew was rescued, except for the cook, while six passengers remained trapped in the hull.
Local officials confirmed that most of the bodies found were in the same part of the ship – the left side and closer to the surface – suggesting passengers sought safety in cabins where the last air bubbles formed.
Deputy prosecutor Raffaele Cammarano said it was likely the passengers were sleeping and one of the focuses of the investigation was to determine whether they had been warned by someone.
Cammarano confirmed that there was a person on duty in the cockpit.
Rescuers on Friday brought ashore the last seven bodies from the sinking of The Bayesian, a 56-meter (184-foot) British-flagged luxury yacht that sank in a storm near the Mediterranean island of Ibiza in southern Italy early Monday morning. The sailboat was carrying 10 crew and 12 passengers.
The seventh victim was Hannah Lynch, 18, the daughter of Mike Lynch, whose body was found on Thursday. He had been celebrating his recent acquittal on fraud charges with his family and those who defended him at his trial in the United States. His wife, Angela Bacares, was among the 15 survivors.
Rescuers struggled for four days to recover all the bodies, making only slow progress inside the wreckage, which lies on the seabed, 50 metres (164 feet) below the surface.
The other five victims were Christopher Morvillo, one of Lynch’s American lawyers, and his wife, Neda; Jonathan Bloomer, chairman of Morgan Stanley’s London-based investment banking arm, and his wife, Judy; and Recaldo Thomas, the yacht’s chef.
