By Daily Mail (World News) | Created at 2024-09-25 09:20:36 | Updated at 2024-09-30 05:24:50
4 days ago
Plan to lift the Bayesian off the seabed are set to be confirmed within the next few weeks after divers and robots finished inspecting the doomed luxury superyacht.
The 184ft (56m) vessel has been underwater since sinking off Sicily on August 19 - killing British tech billionaire Mike Lynch, his daughter Hannah, 18, and five others.
Prosecutors are investigating the captain and two British crew members as they carry out an inquiry into culpable shipwreck and suspected multiple manslaughter.
They therefore want the British-flagged yacht raised as soon as possible to work out whether the vessel was flooded by external hatches and doors being left open.
The trio under investigation since late August are James Cutfield, the captain; Tim Parker Eaton, the engineer in charge of securing the yacht's engine room; and Matthew Griffith, a sailor who was on watch duty on the night of the disaster.
Divers from Italy's fire service at Porticello on August 23 as they recover bodies of the dead
Italian divers carry out inspections of the Bayesian yacht's wreck off Sicily on August 23
A fire service dive team leaves Porticello, heading to the rescue site in Sicily on August 23
Now, a spokesman for the Italian coastguard has told The Times: 'We expect to see the plan for the raising of the Bayesian submitted to us for our approval in a few weeks. Everyone wants to move quickly.'
The £30million yacht is on its starboard side about 160ft (50m) below sea level near the fishing port of Porticello after sinking in a freak storm.
Divers from Italy's fire service have removed the bodies, while Italian navy special forces divers were asked to retrieve the boat's data recorder for CCTV evidence.
The raising will be paid for by the Bayesian's owner, British firm Revtom, which is controlled by Mr Lynch's wife Angela Bacares who was one of 15 survivors.
Genoa-based diving company Drafinsub has used sonar and video shot from a robot to map the yacht's hull, anchor chain and surrounding seabed.
Hannah Lynch with her father Mike Lynch. Both died in the sinking of his superyacht last month
The Bayesian (file picture) sank on August 19 off the coast of Sicily amid severe stormy weather
Mike Lynch with his wife Angela Bacares, who managed to escape from the disaster off Sicily
Drafinsub has now finished its study and will hand its data over to Revtom, which employed it to carry out the work.
And the Italian coastguard told the newspaper that Revtom will now 'study the data, pick the firm to carry out the raising of the vessel and present to us and the insurers their plan for the operation, which we will sign off on'.
Chief prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio, who is heading the investigation, previously said his team will consider each possible element of responsibility including those of the captain, the crew, individuals in charge of supervision and the yacht's manufacturer.
Investigators are focusing on how a sailing vessel deemed 'unsinkable' by its manufacturer, Italian shipyard Perini Navi, sank while a nearby sailboat remained largely unscathed.
Prosecutors said the event was 'extremely rapid' and could have been a 'downburst' – a localised, powerful wind that descends from a thunderstorm and spreads out rapidly on hitting the ground.
Divers prepare to carry out inspections of the Bayesian wreck in Porticello on August 23
A diver goes into the water off Sicily on August 23 as the team carries out an inspection
All crew members survived except for the chef, but six passengers were trapped in the yacht's hull and died.
The Bayesian is only expected to be raised once 18,000 litres of fuel had been removed from its tank to prevent this from polluting the water.
The operation to lift the yacht out of the water could take six to eight weeks and will involve cranes and up to 40 divers.
Nick Sloane, who led the operation to recover the Costa Concordia cruise liner that sank in 2012, said this would cost up to £12.7million.
He told La Repubblica last month that it would have to be completed by mid-October, without specifying the reasons for the timing.
The engineer said platforms would be built and bringing the yacht to the surface will have to be done 'very, very slowly', adding: 'The ship has to be recovered as it is, in one piece, trying to keep it intact as much as possible.'
Banking boss Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy died in the superyacht disaster on August 19
Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda Morvillo were also among the dead
Conditions underwater have been described as 'complex' and 'prohibitive' for the divers.
Vincenzo Zagarola, who formed part of the Italian coastguard's operations, previously told The Sun it had been 'extremely hard' and called it an '18-storey building full of water.'
It comes after a lawyer representing the builder of the Bayesian was sacked after filing a £186million lawsuit against Mrs Lynch and the crew without permission.
Tommaso Bertuccelli, a lawyer who works with The Italian Sea Group (TISG), filed the writ last week declaring liability for the sinking of the yacht lay with Mrs Lynch and the crew.
But on Monday, a source at TISG confirmed the lawsuit had been filed 'without their knowledge and consent' and as a result Mr Bertuccelli had been fired.
The body of chef Recaldo Thomas was discovered on the day of the sinking last month
Meanwhile Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), the American tech giant, is continuing its pursuit of £3billion from Mr Lynch's estate.
Mrs Lynch and her family had boarded the yacht after Mr Lynch won a long-running court case in America.
He faced 15 fraud charges linked to the £8.8billion sale of his technology company Autonomy to HPE in 2011. Had he lost the case, he would have faced being jailed for the rest of his life, but a jury acquitted him on all counts in June.
However, previously in 2022 HPE won a separate High Court legal battle heard in Britain which resulted in a demand for £3billion in damages, which they now say is owed by Mrs Lynch.
