An Italian prosecutor has opened an investigation into manslaughter in connection with the deaths of seven people in the sinking of the luxury yacht Bayesian off the coast of Sicily on Monday.
The head of the Termini Imerese prosecutor’s office, Ambrogio Cartosio, held a press conference in which he said that they were in the early stages of investigating a so-called “hypothetical crime” of culpable shipwreck and involuntary manslaughter.
He said that they are not investigating anyone in particular at the moment, as they must determine who the potential perpetrators are before filing charges, and that it will be a process that will take time.
“The media operates on an incredibly fast schedule, but a prosecutor’s schedule is longer because it requires careful consideration,” he explained.
Cartosio also confirmed that the bodies recovered were those of the boat’s chef, Recaldo Thomas, Chris Morvillo, Neda Morvillo, Jonathan Bloomer and Judy Bloomer, who were found on August 21.
The bodies of British tech mogul Mike Lynch and his daughter Hannah were later recovered on August 23.
The investigation will analyze why the surviving crew were able to board the lifeboat but the passengers were notand also how quickly rescuers arrived at the scene.
Cartosio added that the captain and crew were not obliged to remain in Italy while the investigation was ongoing.
At the same press conference, the commander of the Palermo fire department reported that divers carried out more than 120 dives and added that it was “intense work” due to the low visibility underwater.
Authorities also said the yacht probably sank due to a downwash and not due to a backwash.
They also said the victims sought refuge on the left side of the boat as the yacht sank from the stern and then capsized onto its right side.
The role of the ship’s keel
One of the key questions facing researchers is the role of the ship’s keel.
The keel is an elongated part of the boat, similar to a fin, that protrudes from its base.
The bottom of the keel, which is the lowest part of the boat, contains a huge weight, the bulb, which keeps the boat stable.
When the wind pushes the boat to one side, the keel rises through the water until, like a seesaw, the weight of the keel pushes the boat back to level it.
On a ship the size of the Bayesian, the keels are often designed to retract so that the ship can dock in areas that are not as deep, such as a harbor.
When the keel is in a raised position, making the boat much less stable.
In this case, the remains of the Bayesian were found at a depth of 50 m, suggesting that there was no reason for the keel to need to be retracted.
But that It doesn’t mean that the captain or crew were at fault.
“Even without the keel fully extended, the ship is stable and only a massive influx of water could have caused the sinking,” a spokesman for The Italian Sea Group, owner of the company that built the Bayesian, was quoted as saying by the Telegraph.
Researchers will want to know ifIf the keel was “raised, lowered or somewhere in between”says Jean-Baptiste Souppez, a member of the Royal Institute of Naval Architects and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Sailing Technology.
Investigators will also want to know what actions the crew took during the weather warning.
Bayesian captain James Cutfield reportedly told Italian media that he could not have foreseen the storm that hit the Bayesian.
But we do know that bad weather had been forecast in advance.
Luca Mercalli, president of the Italian Meteorological Society, said Tuesday that given the poor forecast, The crew should have made sure all guests were awake and have been assigned life jackets.
One survivor reportedly told medical staff that the boat began to sink just two minutes after she fell asleep.
How did the ship sink so quickly?
A doctor who treated the survivors said thatThe boat “capped over within minutes.”
A key question is how exactly that happened, and how it happened so quickly.
“For the ship to sink, especially at that speed, you would be looking at water forcing its way into the ship along its entire length,” says Jean-Baptiste Souppez.
“Ships like this actually They are not designed to withstand any period of time at 90 degrees of tilt“, he adds.
“So if the ship was at 90 degrees, then you would expect water to enter the interior regardless of whether the hatches were open or not. Although it would obviously speed up the process.”
Some have speculated that a waterspout flying over the Bayesian may have been “burst” by the mast, dumping a large amount of water on the ship and quickly sinking it.
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