Yacht sinking live: Investigation into manslaughter launched, seven dead, including tech billionaire Mike Lynch

• Why were the passengers remaining on board the ship not warned against escaping from the yacht?
• Why were there several passengers in one cabin?
• Why did the boat sink?
• Why weren’t nearby ships similarly affected?
• What weather warnings did the Bayesian become aware of?
• How long will it take to salvage the sailing ship?

The deceased passengers were probably asleep, the public prosecutor said, and that was the reason why they were unable to escape.

Raffaele Cammarano, the prosecutor in the case, said, “They were sleeping, but the others were not.”

He was asked if there was anyone there at that time who could alert them.

Mr Cammarano said: “This is exactly what we are trying to find out from the statements made during the interviews of the survivors – obviously a key point of the investigation.”

A senior prosecutor in Sicily explained the order in which the bodies of six people missing since the yacht sank were recovered, describing the incident as a “very serious tragedy”.

At a press conference on Saturday, prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio said: “These six people who were desperately trying to save themselves were finally rescued.

“First of all, four of them. Jonathan Bloomer, the banker, and Christopher Morvillo, the lawyer. All four were rescued from the interior of the yacht, which was lying 50 meters deep.

“Later the other two were also recovered.

“Michael Lynch on the 23rd, yesterday, and then yesterday morning Michael Lynch's 18-year-old daughter, Hannah, was found.

“This is a very serious tragedy and in order to contain its extent we have asked for the cooperation of the firefighters and firefighting divers who have shown incredible courage and skill, completed a really difficult mission and enabled us to thoroughly search the wreckage for bodies.”

The bodies of six people were recovered from cabins on the left side after the yacht sank, said the chief of the Palermo fire department.

Girolamo Bentivoglio said specialised divers trying to recover the bodies were coping with “very poor visibility due to weather conditions” and were called in from across the country as part of a search and rescue operation involving “around 70 people” every day.

He added: “The yacht obviously turned to the right and they (people) obviously tried to get to the other side and then sought refuge in their cabins.”

“We found four or five bodies in the cabin on the left, and there was another in the third cabin on the left, and they were obviously in the upper part of the wreckage.

“Of course, the divers initiated emergency measures and of course we installed cameras and called in additional divers.

“And of course we deployed helicopter services and other surveillance cameras.”

The investigation into the seven fatalities has not yet produced any findings, the prosecutor said.

When asked whether autopsies had been carried out, Raffaele Cammarano said at a press conference in Italy: “There are still many preparatory steps to be carried out before the autopsies can be carried out.”

The yacht was hit by a downdraft and Italian authorities said they were investigating the extent to which it had affected a single vessel but not other vessels nearby, according to the conference translation.

The investigation is currently an Italian matter with local involvement, but chief prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio said: “I cannot tell you with certainty that it will be an exclusively Italian investigation.”

He added: “I am sure there will be developments in this regard.”