Italy opens murder and manslaughter proceedings after sinking of superyacht

“We have opened an investigation against unknown persons for manslaughter and intentional killing,” said prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio at a press conference in the Sicilian town of Termini Imerese on Saturday morning.

Last Monday, the Bayesian superyacht sank off the coast of Porticello, a small coastal town near Sicily's capital Palermo.

Seven of the 22 people on board died in the shipping accident, including British technology magnate Mike Lynch and his daughter Hannah.

Cartosio confirmed that the investigation had begun, but said that no suspects had been identified at this time.

“We are only in the early stages of the investigation. At the moment we cannot rule out any development,” Cartosio said, adding that his team will carefully examine all possible liability elements, including those of the ship's captain, crew, supervisors, shipbuilder and others.

“For me it is likely that crimes have been committed, that it could be a case of manslaughter, but we will only be able to determine that if you give us time to investigate,” he said, explaining that the crew members would be allowed to leave Sicily but could face further investigations.

The downburst hypothesis versus the Bayesian

The focus of the investigators is the question of how a sailing ship that was classified as “unsinkable” by its builder, the Italian shipyard Perini Navi, could sink, while a neighboring sailing boat remained virtually unscathed.

Prosecutors said the event occurred “extremely quickly” and that information received indicated a “downburst,” a localized, strong wind that originates from a thunderstorm and spreads rapidly after hitting the ground.**

Civil defense officials initially assumed that the yacht, which had a distinctive 75-meter-high aluminum mast, had been hit by a tornado on the water, a so-called waterspout.

When will Bayesianism be restored

Investigators also questioned why almost all of the crew, with the exception of the cook, survived while six passengers were trapped in the hull.

Girolamo Bentivoglio, the new commander of Palermo's fire brigade, confirmed that most of the recovered bodies were found in the same part of the ship – on the port side and closer to the surface – suggesting that passengers had sought shelter in the cabins where the last air bubbles had formed.

Deputy prosecutor Raffaele Cammarano said it was likely that the passengers were asleep. He added that one of the main goals of the investigation was to find out if someone warned them. Cammarano also confirmed that a person was keeping watch in the cockpit.

“The time frame for the recovery of the yacht is uncertain: everything depends on the will of the owners, owners and the management company. The Maritime Authority will lead the operation with its own technicians, but at the moment we are still in the preliminary phase: we will enforce the securing of the ship by emptying the tanks,” said Raffaele Macauda, ​​commander of the Palermo Coast Guard. Cartosio said, however, that the first suspects could be announced even before the wreck is recovered.

Who are the victims of the shipwreck

On Friday, rescue workers washed ashore the last of the seven bodies from the Bayesian shipwreck. Among them was Hannah Lynch, 18, daughter of Mike Lynch, whose body was recovered on Thursday. The man had celebrated his recent acquittal of fraud charges with his family and defense lawyers in the US trial. His wife Angela Bacares is among the 15 survivors.

For four days, rescue workers struggled to find all the bodies, slowly working their way into the wreckage, which lay 50 meters deep on the seabed.

The other five victims are Christopher Morvillo, one of Lynch's US lawyers, and his wife Neda, Jonathan Bloomer, the president of Morgan Stanley's London office, and his wife Judy, and Recaldo Thomas, the yacht's cook.