Prosecutor Ambrogio Cartozio gave a press conference about the shipwreck in Palermo, in the court of Termini Imerese, crowded with journalists.
The sinking of the Bayesian near the port of Porticello killed seven people and may have been caused by a series of human errors, said the prosecutor, who attended the interview along with representatives of the fire and rescue service and members of the coast guard.
‘We would really like to thank them from the bottom of our hearts for their courage’
Prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio thanked the coastguard and the rescue crew after a five-day operation following the sinking of the Bayesian superyacht.https://t.co/jtKI03M2xJ
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The difficult task of divers
Some 11 specialist divers spent a total of 4,470 minutes of underwater research on the vessels over five days. By the end visibility in the water was low, but they persevered and by midday on Friday they had retrieved the last missing person, Sky News reports.
Finding the bodies of everyone on board was difficult for the divers, despite their years of experience. The investigators are examining the crimes of causing a shipwreck and multiple negligent homicide against unknown persons, as they had already revealed yesterday in the international media.
“This is just the beginning of the investigation. At this stage we are not ruling anything out,” said the prosecutor, clarifying that it is not excluded that the wreck was caused by wrong attitudes.
He confirmed that the Bayesian’s captain, James Catfield, who has already been questioned and was said to be “extremely co-operative”, would undergo further questioning.
They were asleep and could not be saved
The seven passengers died probably because they were asleep, prosecutors said, which is probably why they were unable to escape.
Cartozio confirmed the names of the victims.
It was «clear people were trying to hide in cabins on the left hand side» of the superyacht, which is where six of the bodies were recovered, the last being 18-year-old Hannah Lynch, Bentivoglio Fiandra from the local fire rescue service says.https://t.co/7PrDma1D7Y
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The questions
According to Raffaele Macauda, the head of Palermo’s port authorities, the yacht had been given permission to remain moored in the area where it sank. “There was no storm warning that night,” he explained.
Makauda added that the timetable for retrieving the yacht from the seabed is unclear and depends on many factors.
The speed with which the Bayesian sank, and the fact that other ships nearby were not damaged by the hydrofoil, raises questions, particularly whether the vessel’s keel, which acts as a counterweight to its massive mast, was up or down at the time. event.
For his part, deputy prosecutor Raffaele Cammarano said that the Italian Air Force has confirmed that the most likely cause of the sinking of the yacht is water, adding that autopsies will be carried out on the victims.
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