The Italian fire brigade’s underwater rescue teams have recovered the body of British tycoon Mike Lynch on Thursday, who remained missing after the sinking of the luxury yacht Bayesianwhich sank off the coast of Sicily on Monday, Reuters reports. Since Wednesday evening, divers have managed to extract five bodies from inside the ship – which lies on the seabed at a depth of 50 metres. The sixth victim, the only person still missing, is Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter, Hannah.
In addition to the tycoon and his daughter, the victims of the tragedy are the banker and president of Morgan Stanley International, Jonathan Bloomer; his wife, Judy; Lynch’s lawyer, Chris Morvillo, and his wife Neda. The Italian authorities have chosen to remain silent on the identifications, but Massimo Mariani, of the Ministry of Interior, has confirmed to Reuters that the emergency services continue the search for Lynch’s daughter.
The 56-metre-long, 11-metre-wide, British-flagged Bayesian was carrying 22 people, 10 of whom were crew and 12 passengers. It capsized early on Monday in a storm in the port of Porticello, near the Sicilian city of Palermo. Fifteen people survived. Among the seven dead, the body of the cook, Recaldo Thomas, was found a few hours after the sinking. But locating and rescuing the other six would take longer.
Italian firefighters have explained that the inspection of the wreck, which lies on its right side at a depth of about 50 metres, has been a “long and complex” operation, as the interior spaces were obstructed by furniture and debris and the divers only had between eight and ten minutes underwater before having to come to the surface. In addition, the cabins are located on the lower deck. A remote-controlled vehicle was also deployed to explore the seabed and take underwater photographs and videos that could provide “useful and timely elements” to the prosecutors investigating the accident.
The disaster has baffled naval experts who said a boat of this size, built by Italian high-end yacht maker Perini and presumed to have top-class fittings and safety features, should have been able to withstand the weather conditions that ultimately caused it to sink, Reuters reports.
Prosecutor’s investigation
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Prosecutors in the nearby town of Termini Imerese have opened an investigation and authorities have begun questioning passengers and witnesses. The captain, James Cutfield, and the crew have not made any official comment.
Giovanni Constantino, CEO of the Italian Sea Group, which includes Perini, assured several Italian media that the BayesianIt was “one of the safest ships in the world” and basically unsinkable. He added that he believed the sinking was caused by a chain of human errors. “The ship sank because water came in, something investigators will have to work on,” Constantino told the TG1 television news programme late on Wednesday.
Citing data from the yacht’s automatic tracking system, Costantino said it took 16 minutes from the time the wind began to batter the yacht and it took on water until it sank. The head of Italian Sea Group added that the Milan-listed company had suffered “enormous damage” to its reputation, with its shares down as much as 2.5%.
Experts are also surprised by the fact that in the storm zone, near the Bayesian,there was another ship, the Sir Robert Baden Powella smaller Dutch-flagged ship, which was unharmed by the storm and was the first to come to the rescue of the shipwrecked. Its captain, Karsent Börner, stated that when the storm had passed he noticed that the sailing ship behind them, the Bayesian“had disappeared” and that shortly afterwards they saw a distress flare and found only a rescue boat with 15 people on board.
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