Prosecutors in Italy said on Saturday they had opened an investigation into shipwreck and manslaughter after a Superyacht capsized during a storm off the coast of Sicily, killing seven people on board.
Termini Imerese prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio confirmed the investigation but said no suspect has been identified at this time. Investigators hope to recover the ship, which is lying on the seabed. 164 feet underwaterbut that can take months.
“We are only in the early stages of the investigation. We cannot rule out any developments at this time,” he told reporters at a press conference.
The main question investigators are focusing on is how a sailing ship that was classified as “unsinkable” by its manufacturer, the Italian shipyard Perini Navi, could sink while a nearby sailboat remained largely unscathed.
SuperYacht Times
Civil defense officials believe the yacht, which had a distinctive 246-foot aluminum mast, hit by a tornado over the waterknown as a waterspout, and sank quickly.
Rescuer on Friday brought the last of seven bodies ashore of the sinking of the Bayesian, a 184-foot British-flagged luxury yacht that was anchored in a storm near the small Sicilian village of Porticello early Monday morning. The sailing boat had a crew of 10 and 12 passengers on board.
The body was presumably 18-year-old Hannah Lynch, the daughter of the British technology magnate Michael LynchHis body was recovered on Thursday. He had been celebrating his recent acquittal of fraud charges with his family and defense lawyers in court in the United States. His wife, Angela Bacares, was among the 15 survivors who managed to escape in a lifeboat.
“The Lynch family is devastated and in shock and is being comforted and supported by family and friends. Their thoughts are with everyone affected by this tragedy,” a family spokesperson said in a statement released Friday.
ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP/Getty
The other five victims are Christopher Morvillo, one of Lynch’s U.S. attorneys, and his wife Neda, Jonathan Bloomer, chairman of Morgan Stanley’s London-based investment banking subsidiary, and his wife Judy, and Recaldo Thomas, the yacht’s chef.
Rescue workers struggled for four days to find all the bodies. Because the wreck lies so deep under the water’s surface, they made only slow progress inside. Rescue workers used an underwater drone to carry out the recovery work.
Local resident Maria Vizzo told CBS News the region had “never seen anything like this before.”
“On Sunday night we experienced the end of the world here in Porticello,” Vizzo said in Italian. “The town of Porticello is mourning the people who died. Everyone is talking about it on the radio and in the news. We are here. We pray to the Lord and ask for a blessing for the dead.”
