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ROME (Reuters) – The sinking of a luxury yacht on Aug. 19 off the northern coast of Sicily killed seven people, including British technology mogul Mike Lynch, his daughter Hannah and Morgan Stanley’s Jonathan Plummer.
Here’s what we know about the incident.
violent storm
The 56-metre British yacht “Bayzian” sank in the dark before dawn off the port of Porticello near Palermo after sudden and severe weather conditions.
Prosecutor Rafael Cammarano said Saturday the event was likely a “downburst,” a very strong downdraft that is an intense but relatively frequent event at sea, rather than a waterspout involving rotating winds like a tornado or hurricane.
There were twenty-two people on board, and fifteen survived, including nine of the ten crew members, plus Lynch’s wife, whose company owned the ship. They were found in a lifeboat. Six of the twelve passengers died.
Prosecutors, who have placed the yacht’s captain, James Cutfield, under investigation for manslaughter and shipwreck, said the ship must be removed from the water before the investigation can be completed.
The stern of the ship fell first.
The ship “Bayzian” sent its last signal before sinking via the Automatic Identification System (AIS) at 0206 GMT, according to the Marine Traffic website.
A red signal was fired into the sky at 0238 GMT to alert emergency services about the emergency, more than 30 minutes after the boat sank, prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio said.
The boat sank from the stern and was lying on its starboard side at a depth of about 50 metres (164 feet), said Palermo fire brigade chief Girolamo Bentivoglio Fiandra.
He added that the bodies of the dead were found in the cabins on the left side of the boat, where passengers may have tried to search for remaining air bubbles.
Prosecutor Cammarano said the passengers were all likely asleep during the storm, which is why they failed to escape.
The other boat
The nearby yacht, the 42-metre Sir Robert Baden-Powell, remained anchored and managed to weather the storm after its captain started the engine to maintain control and avoid hitting the Baysian.
The ship’s captain, Karsten Borner, said he did not know whether the crew of the “Bayzian” had succeeded in starting its engines.
“All I know is that they sank with the mast in the water and they sank in two minutes,” he said.
“incomprehensible”
A boat the size of the Bayesian could only sink so quickly if a huge amount of water took in, said Andrea Ratti, professor of naval design at Milan Polytechnic University.
He noted that one or more windows or other openings may have been left open, broken or shattered by the storm, allowing water to enter.
However, one industry expert in Britain said it would have taken several hours for the Bayzi to fill with enough water to sink it, making its rapid demise incomprehensible.
The Bayesian boat had a retractable keel – a fin-like mounting structure under the hull that could be partially raised to reduce the boat’s depth when entering shallow water or harbours.
Many experts have questioned whether the yacht was tied up with its bottom raised, which could compromise its stability in the event of a violent storm.
Unsinkable
The Bayesian was built in 2008 by Perini Navi, an Italian luxury yacht manufacturer. The yacht was fitted with the world’s longest aluminium mast, measuring 72 metres, but initial reports that the mast had broken during the storm have so far proven unfounded.
Giovanni Costantino, CEO of Italian Sea Group, which owns the Perini, said the yacht was “one of the safest ships in the world” and essentially unsinkable.
He claimed the ship sank due to a series of human errors amid forecast storms, basing his assertions partly on data from the Automatic Identification System. The captain and other crew members have not spoken publicly about the disaster, and Reuters’ attempts to reach them were unsuccessful.
Costantino said that if the crew had closed all the doors and hatches, started the engine, raised the anchor, lowered the keel and turned the yacht to face the wind, it would not have suffered any damage.
He added that the data showed that it took 16 minutes from the start of the winds blowing on the yacht and the start of water entering it for it to sink.
Reuters could not verify his statements.
