Italian prosecutors launch manslaughter investigation into yacht sinking near Sicily : NPR

Italian firefighting divers recover the body of a shipwreck victim in Porticello, Sicily, Friday, August 23.

Alberto Lo Bianco/LaPresse Photo credit: Associated Press

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Alberto Lo Bianco/LaPresse Photo credit: Associated Press

ROME — Italian prosecutors said Saturday they have opened an investigation into maritime casualties and multiple manslaughter in an accident involving a superyacht. Capsized in the storm A shipwreck occurred in the waters near Sicily, killing seven people on board, including British technology tycoon Mike Lynch and his daughter.

Termini Imerese prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio confirmed an investigation had been launched but said no suspects had yet been identified.

“We are still in the initial stages of our investigation. We cannot rule out any developments at this point,” he told reporters at a news conference.

Catosio said his team will carefully consider every possible element of liability, including that of the captain, crew, those responsible for oversight, the shipbuilder and others.

“To me it’s very possible that this was criminal conduct, it could be manslaughter, but we can’t know for sure until we give us time to investigate,” he said.

The main question for investigators is why the sailboat, considered “unsinkable” by its manufacturer, Italian shipyard Perini Navi, sank while a nearby sailboat remained largely unscathed.

Prosecutors said the incident “moved extremely quickly” and that the information they had obtained appeared to point to a “downburst,” a localized burst of strong winds caused by a thunderstorm that hits the ground and spreads rapidly.

Initially, civil protection officials said they believed the yacht, which has a distinctive 75-meter (246-foot) aluminum mast, was hit by a tornado, or waterspout, over the water.

Investigators were also asked why six passengers remained trapped in the hull when almost all the crew members except the cook were rescued.

Local officials confirmed that most of the bodies recovered were found in the same part of the ship, on the left side, close to the water surface, suggesting that passengers had sought safety in the last few bubble-forming cabins.

Deputy prosecutor Raffaele Cammarano said the passengers may have fallen asleep, adding that one of the main focuses of the investigation will be to determine if anyone alerted them.

Cammarano confirmed that there was one person on duty in the cockpit.

Rescuers on Friday pulled ashore the last victim of the sinking of the Bayes, a 56-meter (184-foot) British-flagged luxury yacht that sank in a storm early Monday near the Mediterranean island south of Italy with 10 crew members and 12 passengers on board.

The seventh victim was Hannah Lynch, 18, the daughter of Mike Lynch. Her body was found on Thursday. He had recently celebrated his acquittal on fraud charges with his family and those who defended him in his US trial. His wife, Angela Bacares, was one of the 15 survivors.

Rescuers spent four days trying to recover all the bodies of the victims, making slow progress inside the wreck, which lies on the seabed 50 meters (164 feet) below the surface.

The other five victims were Christopher Morvillo, one of Lynch’s American lawyers, and his wife Neda; Jonathan Bloomer, chairman of Morgan Stanley’s London investment banking subsidiary, and his wife Judy; and the yacht’s chef, Recaldo Thomas.