An Italian prosecutor has opened an investigation into the sinking of a luxury yacht off the coast of Sicily this week, possibly developing into a manslaughter case. British tech tycoon Mike Lynch and six others on board were killed in a storm.
The head of the Termini Imerese public prosecutor's office, Ambrogio Cartosio, said that although the yacht had been hit by bad weather, it was still “reasonable” to consider the possibility of crimes of manslaughter and negligence that caused the ship to sink.
In a press conference, he said that until now the investigation had not been directed at one specific person.
Lynch's 18-year-old daughter Hannah was among those killed when the family's 180-foot (56-meter) Bayesian capsized in a fierce storm early Monday morning off Porticello, near Palermo.
Fifteen people survived, including Lynch's wife, whose company owned the Bayesian yacht, and the ship's captain.
Cartosio said the disaster would be even more devastating if the investigation showed it was caused by “irresponsible actions on the part of the ship's crew.”
This week, authorities questioned Captain James Cutfield and other survivors, but have not publicly explained how the ship sank.
Raffaele Cammarano, another prosecutor who spoke at the same news conference, said that when questioned by authorities, Cutfield was “very cooperative.”
The sinking has puzzled naval oceanographers. They say a ship like the Bayesian, built by Italian luxury yacht maker Perini, should have been able to weather a storm and should not have sunk so quickly.
Raising the Bayesian from the sea would help investigators understand what caused the ship to sink, but the operation is expected to be complex and expensive. The wreck appears to be intact, lying on its side at a depth of 50 meters.
Giovanni Costantino, CEO of The Italian Sea Group which owns Perini, told Reuters this week that the sinking was caused by a series of “indescribable and unreasonable errors” by the crew. He also ruled out the possibility of design or construction failures.
Cammarano explained that the meteorological event that struck the ship was most likely a “downburst,” a strong wind blowing downward. This phenomenon is an intense but relatively common occurrence at sea. It is different from a waterspout, which involves rotating winds such as a whirlwind or tornado.
Mike Lynch (59) is one of Britain's leading tech entrepreneurs. He invited his friends to celebrate his release in June from a fraud trial in the US by taking them on a yacht.
In addition to Lynch, other victims in the crash included attorney Chris Morvillo and Jonathan Bloomer, a Morgan Stanley banker who gave character testimony in Lynch's case. (ah/ft)
