Authorities launch manslaughter investigation into sinking of superyacht off the coast of Sicily

Authorities investigating the sinking of a superyacht off the coast of Sicily that killed seven people said a manslaughter investigation had been launched into the case.

“We have opened a case against unknown persons on the hypothesis of negligent homicide in a shipwreck,” said Ambrogio Cartosio, the attorney general of the Sicilian city of Termini Imerese, at a press conference on Saturday.

Cartosio added: “We are careful to keep the investigation confidential as required by law.”

The prosecutor said the ship’s captain, who survived the sinking, was not currently in custody but asked to remain available in Sicily so prosecutors could speak to him again.

Investigators also announced that the ship was likely hit by a downburst – a powerful wind system originating from a thunderstorm that can reach speeds of up to 100 kilometers per hour – rather than a waterspout, as authorities and some experts had previously believed.

The press conference came a day after the body of the last missing passenger – Hannah Lynch, the 18-year-old daughter of British technology entrepreneur Mike Lynch – was recovered from the ship’s hull on Friday. The body of Mike Lynch, who owned the yacht, was recovered on Thursday.

The other victims, according to Italian news agency Adnkronos, are Jonathan Bloomer, president of Morgan Stanley International, his wife Anne Elizabeth, and American lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Nada, all of whom were found in the sunken yacht. The body of the yacht’s cook, Recaldo Thomas, was found underwater near the hull but not inside it on Monday morning, according to authorities. An official list of survivors and victims of the tragedy has not been released.

Divers conducted a difficult and dangerous rescue operation on the yacht for five days to find and rescue the missing passengers.

Fifteen people who were on board the yacht at the time of the downburst – presumably the entire crew, the captain and five passengers – were rescued alive immediately after the ship sank early Monday morning, which occurred about half a mile from the fishing village of Porticello near the city of Palermo.