Mike Lynch’s Superyacht Latest: Bayesian Captain ‘Refuses to Answer Questions’ in Manslaughter Investigation

Good evening, that’s all for today in our report.

The Bayesian sent its last signal before sinking via the automatic identification tracking system (AIS) at 0206 GMT, according to the MarineTraffic website.

Attorney General Ambrogio Cartosio said a red flare alerting rescue services to the emergency was fired into the sky at 0238 GMT, more than 30 minutes after the boat sank.

Palermo fire chief Girolamo Bentivoglio Fiandra said the boat sank from the stern and was lying on its starboard side at a depth of about 50 meters (164 feet).

In the yacht, the bodies of the dead were found in the cabins on the left side of the boat, where passengers may have tried to search for remaining air bubbles, he added.

Prosecutor Cammarano said the passengers were probably all asleep at the time of the storm, which is why they were unable to escape.

Bayesian yacht captain James Cutfield has been asked to appoint a lawyer after being questioned by Italian prosecutors investigating the yacht’s sinking on Sunday.

The 51-year-old man has been charged with possible involuntary manslaughter and shipwreck, according to his lawyer Aldo Mordiglia.

Mr Mordiglia is one of two lawyers representing the New Zealander. The other is Palermo lawyer Giovanni Rizzuti.

According to Italian media, Mr Mordiglia, originally from Genoa, specialises in maritime and international law.

The captain of the Bayesian The yacht chose not to answer prosecutors’ questions as he was questioned for the third time on Tuesday, his lawyer said.

James Cutfield, a 51-year-old New Zealand national, is being investigated for possible manslaughter and shipwreck.

“The captain exercised his right to remain silent for two fundamental reasons,” lawyer Giovanni Rizzuti told reporters. “First of all, he is very exhausted. Secondly, we were only appointed on Monday and for a complete and proper defence we need to acquire a set of data that we do not have at the moment.”

Being indicted does not imply the pilot’s guilt or that he will be prosecuted. Attorney General Ambrogio Cartosio said his team would examine all possible elements of responsibility, including those of the captain, the crew, those in charge of supervision and the yacht’s builder.

The Times One of Mr Cutfield’s lawyers said the captain was “understandably very shaken” after last Monday’s ordeal.

Giselda Vagnoni says more in this report:

The sinking of the Bayesian off the coast of Sicily has made headlines around the world, with interest growing when it was revealed that British tech mogul Mike Lynch was among those on board.

It later emerged that the boat trip was a celebration by Mr Lynch with friends, colleagues and his legal team after winning a decade-long legal battle.

Here we explain who was on board the ship during the tragedy:

Hatches and doors left open overnight on the superyacht Bayesian may have caused it to sink in Italy, a sailing expert has said.

Sam Jefferson, editor of Sailing Today magazine, believes the ship’s massive mast likely also contributed to the fatal accident.

Mr Jefferson told the PA news agency: “I would have said the boat was hit very hard by the wind, it was stuck on its side.

“I guess all the doors were open because it was hot, so there were enough hatches and doors open that it filled with water very quickly and leaked like that.

“The reason it was crushed so badly is because the mast is huge.

“It almost acted like a sail. (It) pushed the boat violently to the side.

“(The boat) filled with water before it could right itself.

“These are just speculations, but they are the only logical explanation.”

Reports surface in Italy of the Bayesian sinking and coastguard divers begin filming the wreck at the request of the prosecutor as the investigation gathers pace.

Concerns are also being raised about the 18,000 litres of fuel and oil believed to still be on board the ship.

Speaking to local newspaper Corriere Della Sera, one fisherman said: “It’s an environmental bomb at the bottom of our seas.”

In case you missed it over the long weekend, a mass for the victims of the Bayesian tragedy was held at Porticello on Sunday.

Flowers were also sent into the sea in tribute to those who died.

The Bayesian was built in 2008 by Perini Navi, an Italian luxury yacht builder. It boasted the world’s tallest aluminium mast, measuring 72 metres, but initial rumours that the mast had broken in the storm have so far proven unfounded.

Giovanni Costantino, CEO of Italian Sea Group, which owns Perini, said the yacht was “one of the safest boats in the world” and virtually unsinkable.

He said the sinking was due to a series of human errors as the storm was expected. His claims are based partly on data from the automatic identification system. The captain and other crew members have not spoken publicly about the disaster and Reuters’ attempts to reach them were unsuccessful.

Costantino said that if the crew had closed all the doors and hatches, started the engine, weighed anchor, lowered the keel and turned the yacht into the wind, it would not have suffered any damage.

He added that data showed it took 16 minutes from the time the wind started buffeting the yacht and it began taking on water for it to sink.

The Bayesian was anchored off the port of Porticello, near Palermo, when it sank in the pre-dawn darkness, amid a very violent and sudden weather event.

Prosecutor Raffaele Cammarano said Saturday that the event was most likely a “downburst,” a very strong downward wind that is an intense but relatively common event at sea, rather than a waterspout that involves rotating winds like a tornado.

The Coast Guard also said that based on weather forecasts, there was nothing unusual about the Bayesian being moored offshore rather than sheltered in a harbor. Another yacht anchored nearby escaped the storm unscathed.

Twenty-two people were on board, and 15 survived, including nine of the ten crew members and the wife of Lynch, whose company owned the Bayesian. They were found on a life raft.

Six of the 12 passengers died. Prosecutors, who have opened a manslaughter and shipwreck investigation against the yacht’s captain, James Cutfield, said the vessel would have to be removed from the water before the investigation could be concluded.