ROME – Italian prosecutors said Saturday they had opened an investigation into shipwreck and manslaughter after a superyacht capsized during a storm off the coast of Sicily, killing seven people on board.
Termini Imerese prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio confirmed the investigation but said no suspect had been identified at this time.
“We are only in the early stages of the investigation. We cannot rule out any developments at this time,” he told reporters at a press conference.
The main question investigators are focusing on is how a sailing ship that was classified as “unsinkable” by its manufacturer, the Italian shipyard Perini Navi, could sink while a nearby sailboat remained largely unscathed.
Rescue workers brought to shore on Friday the last of seven bodies found when the Bayesian sank. The 56-meter-long luxury yacht under the British flag sank in a storm near the Mediterranean island in southern Italy early Monday morning. The sailing boat had a crew of ten people and twelve passengers on board.
The body is believed to be that of 18-year-old Hannah Lynch, the daughter of British technology magnate Mike Lynch. His body was recovered on Thursday. He had celebrated his recent acquittal of fraud charges with his family and defense lawyers in court in the United States. His wife Angela Bacares was among the 15 survivors.
Civil defense officials believe the yacht, which had a distinctive 75-meter-high aluminum mast, was caught in an over-water tornado, known as a waterspout, and sank quickly.
Rescue workers struggled for four days to find all the bodies, making slow progress inside the wreck, which lies 50 metres below the surface on the seabed.
“The Lynch family is devastated and in shock and is receiving comfort and support from family and friends. Their thoughts are with everyone affected by this tragedy,” a family spokesman said in a statement released Friday.
The other five victims are Christopher Morvillo, one of Lynch’s U.S. attorneys, and his wife Neda, Jonathan Bloomer, chairman of Morgan Stanley’s London-based investment banking subsidiary, and his wife Judy, and Recaldo Thomas, the yacht’s chef.
