Nobody can explain how the Bayesiana luxury sailing yacht equipped with the most cutting-edge technology, weighing 500 tons and 56 metres in length, could have sunk in a flash on that tragic stormy night off the Sicilian coast. The sea swallowed it completely, including its immense mast of more than 70 metres – one of the tallest in the world, according to the shipowner – in just a few minutes, in the early hours of last Monday, when it was anchored a hundred metres from another boat that was unharmed. In this tragedy, with victims from the world of international finance, there are few certainties and more and more unanswered questions.
The yacht, which was at full capacity with 22 people on board, was owned by technology magnate Mike Lynch – nicknamed the “British Bill Gates” – who died in the shipwreck, and his wife Angela Bacares, a survivor. Also killed in the sinking were Hannah Lynch, 18, daughter of the multimillionaire businessman; the banker and non-executive chairman of Morgan Stanley International, Jonathan Bloomer; his wife, Judy; Lynch’s lawyer, Chris Morvillo, and his wife, Neda. Their bodies were recovered from the seabed, among the remains of the wreck, at a depth of 50 metres. Also killed was the ship’s cook, Recaldo Thomas, whose body was found nearby by firefighters a few hours after the accident. He was the only victim among the ten crew members.
The circumstances of the sinking have left meteorological, nautical engineering and safety experts perplexed, and they agree that the most plausible explanation is that during the storm a huge amount of water entered from the stern in a very short time. This would have caused the ship, valued at around 30 million euros, to immediately become unbalanced and sink. But the big question is how could something like this happen to a modern luxury vessel with a crew of ten members, presumably prepared to face all kinds of risks on the high seas. The most widely accepted explanation is that some crucial hatches were left open on the deck or on the sides, and that is where the ship began to flood. In any case, the technicians point out that this circumstance alone could not explain the shipwreck and the deaths, and there are several authoritative voices that allude to a fateful chain of errors and tragic coincidences.
A “very long list of errors”
Giovanni Costantino is the founder and CEO of The Italian Sea Group, the listed company that owns Perini Navi, the shipowner specializing in large sailing ships that built the Bayesianin 2008. This businessman has described the sailboat as “one of the safest in the world, practically unsinkable.” In an interview with Corriere della Serathat the prosecution is studying, He explained that according to data collected by the ship’s identification devices, it took only 16 minutes from the moment water began to enter the hull until it sank completely. He spoke of a “very long series of errors.”
“The storm would have represented zero risk if the correct manoeuvres had been carried out and there had been no situations that compromised the stability of the ship,” said Costantino. He also referred to possible carelessness by the crew: “In a weather alert situation, people were not supposed to be in the cabins, the ship was not supposed to be anchored. The hull and deck should have been armoured, all doors and hatches closed, after having placed the guests at the meeting point according to the emergency procedure. The next morning they would have left there unharmed.”
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Costantino also said that Perini, a prestigious shipowner, has suffered “enormous damage” to its image and a fall in the stock market. He also hinted that the company is evaluating “possible actions” to protect the reputation and credibility of its ships. He also defended the fact that one of its vessels withstood the hurricane. Katrinaa Category 5 hurricane that hit the Atlantic in 2005. “Do you think a tornado couldn’t withstand it here?” he asked.
More questions than answers
Experts and researchers are trying to understand how the sailboat Bayesiansank in a short time, while a much smaller ship remained intact a hundred meters away. Sir Robert Baden PowellThe Dutch-flagged ship had nine passengers and four crew members on board, who were on deck, monitoring what was happening around them. “My crew and I knew there was a storm, we started the engines and chose a position suitable for these circumstances. Personally, I did not expect such power, but I know that at sea you never know what can happen,” Karsten Borner, the captain of the ship, told the newspaper. The Republic.
Investigators are also looking into whether the captain of the BayesianThe sailor and his crew may have underestimated the danger. Sailor Andrea Mura, who in March became the fifth Italian to complete a solo circumnavigation of the world, has criticised the decision to leave the port during a night of bad weather forecast. “Why, on a night of bad weather, when the forecast warns of trouble, do you have passengers on board who are not sailors, but people on holiday, instead of staying calmly in port? Perhaps the sailors were too confident. Perhaps they thought the boat was so big that it could withstand anything. Perhaps they were not trained in emergency procedures. In any case, it is very serious that they were saved without trying to get the passengers out,” he said in an interview with the Italian newspaper The Republic.
Another major question is how it is possible that nine of the ten crew members, including the captain and the first officer, were among the survivors, but only six of the 12 passengers. The Italian prosecutor’s office is investigating whether a crime of culpable shipwreck and multiple culpable homicide was committed, although at the moment they have no official suspects. The prosecutors will take weeks or even months to have a precise reconstruction. They are clear that the seven victims of the tragedy were surprised “by a sudden and unexpected event” while they were sleeping, they woke up abruptly and tried to escape, but were trapped inside the sailboat. “This tragedy would be even more painful if it were proven that it was caused by behaviour not perfectly in line with the responsibility that each person must have in the management of navigation,” said the head prosecutor of the case, Ambrogio Cartosio, who does not exclude any possibility in the investigation.
Lynch had conceived the journey in the Bayesianaround the Mediterranean as a holiday to celebrate a recent judicial victory. A couple of months ago he had been acquitted, against all odds, in a long judicial process in the United States in which he faced a request for a 25-year prison sentence on charges of fraud, falsification of accounts and illicit association to commit a crime related to the multi-million dollar sale of one of his companies.
The profile of those involved in the shipwreck and a particular coincidence have contributed to increasing the interest around a case that is already considered exceptional. On the same day of the accident, Stephen Chamberlain, Lynch’s business partner, also died. He was also charged and acquitted in the same court proceedings. He was run over by a car north of Cambridge, in the United Kingdom, in what the British authorities consider an accident. Although there is no reason to believe that this event is related to the shipwreck, Chamberlain is still in the process of being hit by a car. BayesianThe coincidence, coupled with the uncertainty surrounding his fatal destiny, has contributed to increasing speculation.
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