Sicilian prosecutors announced on Saturday 24 August that they had opened an investigation into manslaughter through negligence following the sinking of a superyacht near Palermo that left seven dead, while stressing that the investigations were only in their early stages. “We are not ruling anything out”said prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio at a press conference after the sinking of the luxury sailboat “Bayesian” in a storm at dawn on Monday.
“The public prosecutor's office of Termini Imerese has filed a case with the State against unknown persons, alleging the crimes of shipwreck by negligence and multiple homicides by negligence”Ambrogio Cartosio said, adding that he “It is possible that we will identify suspects before the wreck is recovered”.
The 56-metre luxury super yacht sank within minutes after a sudden waterspout hit. Fifteen people were rescued, including six passengers. Italian firefighters on Friday found the body of the daughter of British tech tycoon Mike Lynch, the last person missing from the yacht's sinking in Sicily on Monday, which left seven people dead in total, including the billionaire.
This extremely wealthy businessman, nicknamed the “British Bill Gates”celebrated with his friends, colleagues and lawyers his acquittal in June in a fraud trial in the United States that could have cost him years in prison.
Questions about “a long series of errors”
The speed at which the yacht sank and the fact that other boats around it were not hit raise questions, including whether the ballasted keel, which counterbalances the massive mast, was lowered or raised at the time of the storm. The head of the Italian Sea Group, which owns the Perini Navi shipyard that built the Bayesian, has blamed human error.
“Everything that happened reveals a long series of errors. The passengers were not supposed to be in the cabins, the ship was not supposed to be at anchor.” in these weather conditions, Giovanni Costantino said in an interview Thursday at Corriere della Sera. Nautilus International, a maritime union, responded by demanding a “thorough and impartial investigation” in a press release.
Source: Lemonde
