The luxury boat sank off the coast of Sicily in bad weather.
The captain of the Bayesian superyacht is being investigated for manslaughter after it sank off the coast of Sicily last week killing seven people.
The luxury boat sank during a harsh storm in the early hours of last Monday morning (19 Aug) with 22 passengers onboard, including British tech magnate Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter who were among the seven victims of the sinking.
The 56-metre (184ft) long yacht was being captained by James Cutfield, 51, from New Zealand who was in charge of the ship when it went down.
Yesterday (25 Aug), Cutfield was questioned for a second time by prosecutors who are investigating the skipper for charges of manslaughter and shipwreck.
Following an interrogation, prosecutors told Cutfield to appoint a lawyer.
It is thought that the large luxury ship was hit by a downburst, a violent, downward gush of wind that comes with heavy storms.
Fifteen people survived the wreck, including Lynch’s wife, whose company owned the boat.
In Italy, people who are under investigation need to be notified before authorities can begin autopsies, which, in the case of the seven victims of the Bayesian, will be undertaken at the Institute of Forensic Medicine of the Policlinico Hospital in Palermo, according to sources that spoke to The Guardian.
Furthermore, in Italy, being placed under investigation does not simply imply guilt and does not strictly mean formal charges will follow, and Cutfield may not be the only person placed under investigation.
Members of the crew working on the yacht have remained in Sicily with the potential to face further questioning while yesterday (25 Aug) the surviving passengers, including Lynch’s wife Angela Bacares, left Sicily aboard a private jet.
Investigators have examined videos and photographs taken by residents during the night of the storm which includes CCTV footage with the coast guard visiting private and public places with surveillance cameras in recent days.
Experts are still confused as to how the superyacht could have sank in under a minute with investigators suspecting that the ship’s crew may not have realised the severity of the storm and left a hatch open on the boat.
This would have greatly increased how fast the ship would have sunk while being battered by vicious waves, although Italian officials said it would be hard to fully investigate the incident if the wreck is not recovered.
Sat on the seabed at a depth of 50 metres in the bay of Porticello, the yacht is under surveillance by authorities who say work to recover the vessel is not expected to start until October.
Officials have suggested that the passengers who died were likely asleep when the ship started sinking, “whereas the others who survived weren’t”.
Among Lynch and his daughter, the five others who died include Jonathan Bloomer, a banker, and his wife Judy, Chris Morvillo, a lawyer, his wife Neda and Recaldo Thomas, the yacht’s chef.
The UK government’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch have sent four investigators to help conduct the inquiry.
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