Italy’s prosecutor’s office in Sicily announced on Saturday an investigation into possible negligent shipwreck and involuntary manslaughter after a luxury yacht sank off its coast, killing seven people, including British billionaire Mike Lynch.
The British-flagged superyacht Bayesian sank in a matter of minutes on Monday about 700 metres off the port of Porticello, near Palermo, after a downpour caused by a cold snap phenomenon.
However, the investigation is still at an early stage, as the last body, that of Hannah Lynch, the 18-year-old daughter of the technology magnate, was only recovered from the sea on Friday. “At this stage, precisely because the investigation can evolve in one direction or another, we are not ruling out anything at all,” said the Termini Imerese prosecutor’s office.
Lynch, 59, had invited friends and family to the boat to celebrate her recent acquittal in a massive US fraud case.
Fifteen people were rescued and the body of a man was found shortly afterwards, who was confirmed on Saturday to be the ship’s cook. A major search operation involving specialist divers found the bodies of four of Lynch’s friends on Wednesday and that of Lynch himself on Thursday.
The speed at which the yacht sank and the fact that other vessels around it were not affected raised questions, in particular about whether the ballasted keel, which acted as a counterweight to the imposing 75-metre mast, was lowered or raised at the time of the storm.
#Italy #opens #investigation #sinking #tycoons #yacht #Diario #Página