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Italian Officials Investigating Deadly Yacht Sinking That Killed 7, Including Tech Tycoon
Italian prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio said it was "probable that offenses were committed," though an investigation is still in its early stages.
Despite an unexpected weather event believed to have been the cause of a deadly yacht sinking off the Italian coast, investigators aren’t ruling out criminal charges just yet.
On Saturday, August 24, 2024, Prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio of Sicily’s Termini Imerese announced a probe into whether the actions of crew members (or lack thereof) caused the ill-fated Bayesian to claim the lives of seven people, according to the BBC. Criminal manslaughter and negligent shipwreck charges are possible for some aboard the 184-foot sailing luxury yacht, which sank off the coast of north Sicily’s Porticello on Aug. 19, 2024, when a violent and sudden storm swept the area at around 4:00 a.m.
As reported by CNN on Monday morning, the inquiry extends to the ship’s captain, 51-year-old New Zealander James Cutfield.
“For me, it is probable that offenses were committed — that it could be a case of manslaughter — but we can only establish that if you give us the time to investigate,” Cartosio told reporters, according to the British outlet.
It was widely reported that sudden weather phenomena, including tornadoes, caused the British-flagged ship to capsize. But according to Cartosio, an in-depth investigation would determine whether death could have been avoided despite what is now believed to have been an unexpected downburst wind, per BBC.
“There are many possibilities for culpability,” said Cartosio, according to CNN. “It could just be the captain. It could be the whole crew. It could be the Guard. We are evaluating all of the factors to see whose behavior fault can be assigned to.”
Once the ship can be salvaged from the sea floor, then investigators can determine whether hatches had been open, which could account for why it only took 16 minutes for the ship to completely sink. Operations remain challenging, however, as the boat — described by Vincenzo Zagarola of the Italian Coast Guard as an “18-story building full of water” — remains 160 feet below the surface.
The potential discovery of the vessel’s black box could also help authorities understand the cause behind the maritime disaster.
Who was on the sinking yacht?
There were 22 people aboard the Bayesian: 12 passengers and 10 crew members, according to BBC. Seven people went down with the super yacht, which was moored only about 500 meters from the shoreline. Those who perished included U.K. tech tycoon Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter, Hannah.
Mr. Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, survived the wreck.
Others killed included Morgan Stanley Bank president Jonathan Bloomer and his wife, Judy Bloomer; Lynch’s American lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife, Neda Morvillo; and Canadian-Antiguan yacht chef Recaldo Thomas.
It’s been reported that the voyage was to mark Mr. Lynch’s June 2024 acquittal in a U.S.-based $11 billion fraud case. Mr. Lynch, dubbed “Britain’s Bill Gates,” was accused of inflating the value of his company, Autonomy, before selling it in 2011 to American tech company Hewlett-Packard.
In separate news, Mike Lynch's co-defendant in the fraud case, former Autonomy Vice President of Finance Stephen Chamberlain, 52, died on Monday, Aug. 19, 2024, after being fatally struck by a car while jogging in England's Cambridgeshire, according to The Guardian. British Police ruled there was nothing "suspicious or untoward" about his death.
The accident occurred two days earlier, though Chamberlain was taken off life support the same day as the yacht's sinking. A Cambridgeshire Police spokeswoman told BBC that they were "satisfied" that Chamberlain died as part of a "tragic road collision" and were "not going to Italy" to continue their investigation.
The driver, a 49-year-old woman, stayed at the scene and was cooperating with authorities.
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How did the yacht sink?
Witnesses reported seeing a waterspout — a tornado that forms on the water — but authorities are now saying the yacht fell victim to a downburst, according to the BBC. The National Weather Service defines downbursts as powerful winds that move down from thunderstorm clouds and spread quickly once hitting the ground. They are “often misinterpreted as tornadoes” despite being separate entities.
Local fisherman Fabio Cefalù told The Guardian that he arrived at the docks at about 3:30 a.m.
“At 3:55, a sort of mini tornado arrived,” Cefalù said. “I have seen many storms in my life. But I had never seen anything like this. I saw the wind sweep the chairs and tables of the bar, heading toward the boats in the harbor. The docks diverted the whirlwind, which went straight toward the yacht.”
The boat’s stern (rear) began sinking before rolling over on its starboard side, prompting passengers to head to the port-side cabins, where those who died were trapped and where “the last air bubbles formed,” according to the BBC.
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Rescue operations were a race against time
Prosecutor Cartosio told reporters at Saturday’s press conference that the Coast Guard was called to the sinking ship at 4:48 a.m., but it had already sunk by the time they arrived. It was determined that the vessel reached the sea floor within a short 16-minute window.
Recovery of the bodies occurred in the days following the tragedy on account of search difficulties such as debris and low visibility.
Raffaele Macauda of nearby Palermo’s Coast Guard said at Saturday’s press conference that “there wasn’t anything to suggest” something as severe as a tornado, according to BBC. However, he noted that vessels were designed to monitor such weather events, and “one would have thought that the captain had taken precautions.”
One of the passengers, a British woman named Charlotte Golunski, said she’d been tossed into the water with her 1-year-old baby in her arms.
"It was all black around me, and the only thing I could hear were the screams of others," she told the BBC.
Those who survived scrambled onto a lifeboat before being rescued by local boats, which were left unscathed by the storm.
Giovanni Constantino, head of the yacht’s manufacturer The Italian Sea Group, told BBC he believed precautions not taken by the crew could have equated to disaster, especially since bad weather had been forecasted.
“Before the storm, the captain should have closed every opening, lifted anchor, turned on the engine, pointed into the wind, and lowered the keel,” he said. “That would have stabilized the vessel. They would have been able to traverse the storm and continue their cruise in comfort.”
Cpt. Cutfield, for his part, told Italian reporters with la Repubblica, “We didn’t see it coming.”
Experts state it can take weeks to months for the Bayesian to be lifted from the sea floor for investigation.
