The captain of a luxury yacht which sank in a storm off the coast of Sicily last week, killing the British tech magnate Mike Lynch and six others, has been placed under investigation for charges of manslaughter and shipwreck, Italian media have reported.
The 56-metre (184ft) superyacht Bayesian, carrying 22 passengers, sank off the coast of Porticello, a fishing village near Palermo, in the early hours of 19 August. It is thought that it was struck by a downburst, a gusty wind associated with storms.
The victims included Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter, Hannah. Fifteen people survived, including Lynch’s wife, whose company owned the Bayesian.
On Sunday, prosecutors questioned James Cutfield, 51, from New Zealand, captain of the Bayesian, for a second time. At the conclusion of the interrogation, investigators asked him to appoint a lawyer.
Notices to people under investigation need to be sent out before authorities can carry out autopsies. The autopsies on the seven victims of the sinking will be done at the institute of forensic medicine of the Policlinico hospital in Palermo, sources said.
Being put under investigation in Italy does not imply guilt and does not mean formal charges will necessarily follow.
“Our client is deeply affected by this ordeal,” Giovanni Rizzuti, one of Cutfield’s lawyers, told the Guardian on Monday, citing that the captain would face further questioning by prosecutors on Tuesday. “We are currently assessing, with other legal representatives, the defence strategy and examining the technical aspects of the case.”
Cutfield might not be the only person who is put under investigation. Other crew members may also be questioned. Prosecutors in Termini Imerese declined to comment when contacted by the Guardian.
The surviving passengers, including Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, left Sicily on a private jet on Sunday. Members of the yacht’s crew remained on the island and could face further questioning by prosecutors in the coming days.
The prosecutor’s office has been examining videos and photographs taken by local people on the night of the storm, as well as surveillance camera footage. In recent days, the coastguard has visited all private homes and public places with surveillance cameras.
Experts are baffled by how the Bayesian sank within 60 seconds. Investigators suspect that the crew may have underestimated the storm’s severity and left a hatch open on the vessel. This oversight, compounded by the waves crashing overboard, led to the boat taking on water and sinking rapidly.
Italian officials said it would be difficult to investigate the sinking fully if the wreck is not recovered.
The wreckage sits at a depth of 50 metres in the bay of Porticello, which is under surveillance by Italian authorities. Work to recover it is not expected to start until October.
Ambrogio Cartosio, the head of the prosecutor’s office in Termini Imerese, said: “It’s in the interests of the owners and managers of the ship to salvage it,” adding that “they have assured their full cooperation”.
Officials suggested that passengers who died were probably asleep, “whereas the others who survived weren’t”.
The dead, alongside Lynch and his daughter, were the yacht’s chef, Recaldo Thomas, Morgan Stanley International’s bank chair, Jonathan Bloomer, his wife, Judy, the Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife, Neda.
Four investigators from the UK government’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch have arrived in Sicily to conduct an inquiry that could help support the gathering of information by insurance companies and victims’ lawyers.
Sarah Allan, yacht specialist and partner at Penningtons Manches Cooper, said: “We may well see recommendations from flag states after everything’s been looked at. It will be a reminder for many captains to review their safety protocols for impending storms, and the insurance market will be looking closely at any findings as part of their loss prevention and risk management.”
She added that the incident was unprecedented in terms of the suddenness of the storm, the size of the vessel and the speed of its sinking. “Nonetheless, as with any incident lessons will be learned.’’
