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The victims of the Bayesian\u2019s sinking were likely either asleep or tried to escape to no avail as Mike Lynch\u2019s yacht went down in minutes during bad weather, prosecutors in Sicily said as they announced a probe for manslaughter and negligent shipwreck.<\/p>\n
The dynamic of what happened to those killed isn\u2019t fully clear, deputy prosecutor Raffaele Cammarano told reporters on Saturday. Autopsies are due to take place soon.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTheir position could lead us to think that they tried to escape, but this isn\u2019t demonstrable in a preliminary phase,\u201d he said of the bodies, found inside the ship, on the side closest to the surface. \u201cThe bodies might also have been grouped there, floating.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe passengers likely weren\u2019t awake,\u201d when the storm struck in the early hours of the morning, he added.<\/p>\n
Authorities in Sicily have opened a manslaughter and negligent shipwreck probe into the Aug. 19 sinking of British tech tycoon Mike Lynch\u2019s yacht, chief prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio\u00a0<\/strong>said at the same briefing.<\/p>\n There are currently no suspects, he said at a press conference in Termini Imerese, with the probe being conducted against \u201cpersons unknown.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Cartosio, who said prosecutors aren\u2019t ruling anything out, expressed sympathy for the families of the seven victims, saying it would be \u201ceven more painful\u201d if the probe showed the wreck was caused by not following procedures properly.<\/p>\n The wreck\u2019s survivors \u2013 including the ship\u2019s captain, crew and passengers \u2013 weren\u2019t tested for alcohol or drugs, Cammarano said, adding that first aid was the priority, including tending to some \u201cserious\u201d wounds among survivors \u201cin a state of shock.\u201d<\/p>\n Prosecutors had kept quiet in recent days about the developing probe, with Cartosio explaining on Saturday that communications on the matter were strictly regulated by Italian law, despite significant interest domestically and internationally in the death of Lynch, the 59-year-old British tech tycoon, and six others.\u00a0<\/p>\n Coast guard admiral Raffaele Macauda said the owners of the ship had announced their intention to retrieve the relic from the seabed, and that the costs would come at their expense. It wasn\u2019t clear when this would happen, he said. But Cartosio said it was a fundamental step in the investigation.<\/p>\n The prosecutor said the emergency began at 4:38 a.m. local time, when a red flare was launched and seen by the coast guard.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Divers from the local firefighter corps spent most of the week attempting to retrieve six bodies stuck inside the ship, which sank to a depth of about 50 meters (164 feet) about a half mile off the coast of Porticello. The body of a seventh victim, the yacht\u2019s chef, had been retrieved earlier.\u00a0<\/p>\n Cammarano said the probe had so far focused on those who\u2019d been rescued alive. It wasn\u2019t clear whether the ship had the equivalent of a black box, he said, with access made significantly more difficult by the position of the sunken relic. He added a crew member had been on duty, as required by procedure, when the \u201ctruly sudden\u201d storm, or \u201cmore likely a downburst,\u201d struck the luxury vessel. \u00a0<\/p>\n Speculation has surrounded the incident, with the chief executive officer of the company that made the yacht, Italian Sea<\/a> Group, positing that human error was involved. It was clear the ship had taken on water and that its electrics failed, Giovanni Costantino\u00a0told Bloomberg News in an interview<\/a>.<\/p>\n UK authorities are also probing the incident.<\/p>\n AIS data, a tracking system used by ships, shows the Bayesian started to drift from anchor just before 4 a.m., traveling for about five minutes for about 360 meters to the spot where it eventually sank about 15 minutes later, Costantino said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The coast guard on Saturday said there were no bans on being at anchor where the Bayesian was situated. Prosecutors declined to say whether any of the hatches were open, which could allow the yacht to quickly take on water, saying this would prejudge the probe.<\/p>\n Cammarano added that James Cutfield, the New Zealand captain of the Bayesian, had been \u201cvery collaborative\u201d in answering prosecutors\u2019 questions. Cartosio said it was \u201clikely\u201d he would have to answer more questions.<\/p>\n The 56-meter long Bayesian had been carrying 22 passengers and crew, of whom 15 were rescued, including Lynch\u2019s wife, Angela Bacares.\u00a0<\/p>\n Girolamo Bentivoglio Fiandra, from the firefighting unit, told reporters that the first five bodies were retrieved from a cabin on the left-hand side of the ship, closest to the water.<\/p>\n The final body \u2013 that of Lynch\u2019s 18-year-old daughter Hannah, was retrieved on Friday in the third cabin on the left-hand side, \u201call on the high side of the ship, toward the surface\u201d of the sea, he said.<\/p>\n Lynch and his family had been celebrating his recent acquittal from fraud charges with a small group of advisers when the violent storm struck. The charges stemmed from Lynch\u2019s sale of his software firm Autonomy Corp. to Hewlett Packard Co. in 2011. The Silicon Valley giant went on to accuse Lynch of accounting failures. He\u2019d spent years working to clear his name in court and restore his reputation as one of Europe\u2019s most successful entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nRecommended Newsletter: <\/strong>High-level insights for high-powered executives. Subscribe to the CEO Daily newsletter for free today. Subscribe now<\/a>.<\/div>\n