The sinking of the luxury yacht “Bayesian” off Palermo, in which seven people, including the British billionaire Mike Lynch, lost their lives, also raises questions about insurance law. High compensation for the 15 survivors is at stake.
The owner of the “Bayesian” is Lynch’s widow, Angela Bacares, who managed to escape the accident. She lost her husband and her 18-year-old daughter Hannah. The value of the “Bayesian” is estimated at around 30 million euros. An insurance policy that Bacares took out with the Australian insurance company “British Marine” should cover the costs of salvaging the boat and any environmental damage, reports “La Repubblica”. There are still 18,000 liters of fuel in the “Bayesian” tank.
Rescue must first be approved
The shipping company “Camper & Nicholsons”, which operates the sunken yacht, is working on a salvage plan. This will be presented to the Italian authorities, who will have to approve it – which, according to media reports, could take several weeks.
The public prosecutor’s office in Sicily has opened an investigation into negligent homicide against the New Zealand captain and two crew members. The investigation is being carried out on suspicion of “negligent shipwreck and multiple negligent homicides”. The captain was questioned, but refused to answer the prosecutors’ questions.
He left Italy on Thursday for Spain on a private jet. On Wednesday he was given a copy of the passport that was lost when the Bayesian sank. The two other crew members who are under investigation have also now left Italy.
Important witness statements
On Saturday, the investigating prosecutors questioned a witness who owns a shipyard in Porticello near Palermo and who said she had seen the sinking of the “Bayesian”. In an interview with the “Corriere della Sera”, the woman said that she had gone to the shipyard on the night of the shipwreck and had seen the 56-metre-long luxury yacht “swaying” in unusual weather conditions and how the sail “fluttered”.
The investigators consider the witness’s testimony to be relevant to the investigation. In particular, the prosecutors want to find out whether the sails were not lowered properly, which could have caused even more instability during the severe storm. In any case, the investigators assume that the crew made several mistakes on the night of the accident.
Dropped on August 19
The sailing yacht “Bayesian”, which had ten crew members and twelve passengers on board, sank in a storm near Porticello off the coast of Palermo on the night of August 19th. The cause is believed to be a waterspout. 15 passengers and crew members were rescued, but seven people lost their lives.
The victims include British billionaire Michael Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, as well as high-ranking manager of the investment bank Morgan Stanley International, Jonathan Bloomer, his wife Anne Elizabeth, lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Nada, and the ship’s cook Thomas Recaldo. The autopsy of the victims’ bodies is underway.
