A probe into suspected manslaughter has commenced following the sinking of a luxury yacht near Sicily.
On August 19, the superyacht Bayesian went down off the Sicilian coast after being struck by a ‘violent’ storm.
There were 22 individuals aboard, including British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch. Fifteen managed to get onto a life raft and were rescued, while seven were initially unaccounted for but their bodies were subsequently found by divers in the days that followed.
Authorities swiftly began investigating how the 184-foot yacht sank, with alarming CCTV footage capturing the moment it was overwhelmed by rain and sank rapidly.
Stephen Richter, of SAR Marine Consulting, told NBC: “I can’t remember the last time I read about a vessel going down quickly like that, you know, completely capsizing and going down that quickly, a vessel of that nature, a yacht of that size.”
CEO of the Italian Sea Group, which built the yacht, Giovanni Costantino, described the vessel as ‘unsinkable’ and ‘one of the safest boats in the world,’ according to the Independent.
The Coast Guard chief suggested, as reported by The Telegraph, that the yacht’s captain should have been aware of the impending storm. He stated: “They are vessels that can monitor these events and one would have thought the captain had taken precautions.”
However, Coast Guard rear admiral Raffaele Macauda remarked: “This was an abnormal meteorological condition, and as you can see from the internet, there were forecasts from midnight to 4am, winds of a strength of five from the north-west and the west, and a storm alert. But there wasn’t an alert of a tornado.”
The investigation has since expanded to consider possible manslaughter charges.
Ambrogio Cartosio, the public prosecutor of Termini Imerese, indicated there ‘could be a question of manslaughter’ in the inquiry into the yacht’s sinking.
He noted that it has been discovered there were ‘behaviors that were not perfectly in order’ which might have contributed to the deaths of the seven people onboard the yacht, though he stressed that other avenues of investigation remain open.
Cartosio emphasized: “This is just, in fact, the beginning of an inquiry”.
The investigation into the Bayesian’s sinking is ongoing, spearheaded by Italian authorities and the UK’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch.
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