Italian prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio has opened manslaughter investigations into the deaths of British tech mogul Mike Lynch and six other people.
They died when the 56-metre luxury yacht Bayesian sank in a powerful storm that hit Porticello, near Palermo, before dawn on Monday.
Mr. Cartosio, head of the Termini Imerese public prosecutor's office, said that while the yacht was hit by a very sudden meteorological phenomenon, there were “credible” indications that the deaths and sinking of the ship were caused by negligence.
So far, the investigations have not focused on any individual, he added during a press conference.
Among the people who lost their lives was Mr. Lynch's 18-year-old daughter, Hannah. Fifteen people managed to survive, including Mr Lynch's wife, whose company owns Bayesian, and the yacht's captain.
It would be even more painful if the investigation showed that it was caused “by actions that were not in line with everyone's responsibilities,” said prosecutor Cartosio.
Captain James Cutfield and other survivors have been questioned this week by authorities. None of them have publicly commented on how the yacht sank.
Raffaele Cammarano, another prosecutor who spoke at the same news conference, said that when authorities had questioned Mr Cutfield he had been “extremely cooperative”.
The sinking of the luxury yacht has baffled naval experts, who say a craft like the Bayesian, built by high-end Italian yacht builder Perini, should have weathered the storm and in any case, shouldn't have. sunk, as quickly as it happened.
Retrieving the ship from the sea will help investigators determine what happened, but the operation is likely to be complex and expensive.
