Bayesian yacht disaster: Unanswered questions remain | World | News

Authorities are piecing together the circumstances surrounding the sinking of the Bayesian superyacht belonging to British tech tycoon Mike Lynch‘s wife.

Five bodies have now been brought ashore in Porticello after the vessel was caught up in a violent storm off the coast of Sicily on Monday. A sixth person remains unaccounted for.

According to The Guardian, an investigation will be carried out under the supervision of the public prosecutor of Termini Imeresi. The local port authority has opened a separate investigation to determine whether the crew took safety measures.

A team of four British inspectors from the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) also arrived in Porticello to look at the site of the sinking. The MAIB is looking into what happened because the yacht Bayesian was flying a British flag, it is understood.

The ship’s captain, James Cutfield, was reportedly quizzed by authorities for two hours as they began questioning all crew members.

Several questions have yet to be answered, including why Mr Lynch didn’t escape along with his wife, Angela Bacares, and why the yacht sank.

According to MailOnline, citing the divers’ log, Mr Lynch and his daughter were found in the same section of the yacht.

The same publication notes that while Mr Lynch’s wife made it out of the “more accessible” master cabin, her husband didn’t.

His reportedly being found in the same spot as Hannah Lynch may suggest he went to find his daughter before the boat sank.

Whether Mr Lynch died while trying to save his daughter’s life is one of the questions investigators could be considering as they piece together what happened on the night the Bayesian went down.

A yacht with the right keel depth should right itself after being hit by high winds, but the Bayesian didn’t do so. The keel makes a yacht stable and able to move in a straight line.

Divers reported the Bayesian’s lifting keel wasn’t fully lowered, according to MailOnline’s account of a meeting between different rescue teams.

Italian state broadcaster RAI said the keel was lowered to a depth of four metres rather than its maximum of 7.5m.

An expert told RAI that a lower deck space used to store a motor launch for ferrying passengers and crew ashore hadn’t been fully closed when the boat sank.

The expert said the tender had been partially raised, but it wasn’t stowed properly on board.

Another expert told MailOnline that neither of these details are exceptional, as lowering a lifting keel fully would risk hitting the seabed close to shore and a tender might not be stowed when at anchor.

RAI reports that had the tender housing has been sealed, there wouldn’t have been a “river of water” entering the hull of the Bayesian when the storm blew the yacht over.

Speaking to state television, an anonymous engineer raised potential failures, from open doors to the engines not running.

The engineer said: “Even with the whirlwind arriving, there was plenty of time. Fifteen minutes would have been enough to activate all the safety measures.”

A violent storm battered the region where the Bayesian was anchored offshore on Monday night.

Water spouts are spiralling columns of air and water mist which form over water or move from land onto water. They share the same characteristics as land tornados.

They can cause severe damage, as raging winds up to 100mph, hail and lightning strike. Italy has seen several storms in recent days amid scorching heat and a warmer-than-usual Mediterranean Sea.

Jim Dale from British Weather Services is a former Royal Navy meteorologist. He said while it is possible to detect the conditions likely to cause water spouts, it is not easy to detect where they will fall. It would also have been impossible to see such weather phenomena in the dark of night, according to the expert.

He said some 19 water spouts were recorded in Italy and the surrounding region in the hours before the ship sank, adding that as a superyacht the Bayesian would likely have been equipped with the technology able to receive the latest weather conditions.

At least five of the bodies recovered from the Bayesian were found below deck. A total of 15 people survived and are believed to be recovering at a hotel complex in Sicily where they are helping with the investigation.

Mr Dale said the recovery of bodies from below deck suggested the tragedy may have unfolded extremely quickly, without time for some of the victims to reach the deck of the boat.

The fifth body was recovered from the vessel on Thursday (August 22), three days after the yacht sank. Divers were able to make just 12-minute long trips to the wreck due to its depth, complicating and slowing the recovery effort.

Investigations into the exact circumstances of the tragedy remain ongoing.