Captain of Bayes superyacht ‘under formal investigation for manslaughter’ after tragic sinking left seven people dead

ITALIAN prosecutors have reportedly opened a manslaughter investigation into the captain of the Bayesian superyacht after seven people died on board.

James Cutfield, 51, of New Zealand, is being investigated for manslaughter and shipwreck, La Repubblica and Corriere della Sera reported.

11

11

11

11

Judges reportedly spoke to Cutfield for the second time in a week on Sunday and questioned him for more than two hours.

According to reports, prosecutors may also be investigating a crew member who was on duty during the storm and survived the disaster.

There were 22 people on board the 184-foot Bayesian when it capsized and sank minutes after a storm while anchored off the coast of northern Sicily last Monday.

British technology magnate Mike Lynch and four other people were found dead in the first cabin on the left side of the luxury yacht.

Lynch's 18-year-old daughter Hannah was found in the third cabin after the ship sank stern first and then turned to the right on the seabed. The yacht's cook also died.

Fifteen of the 22 people on board, including Lynch's wife Angela Bacares (57), were able to save themselves on a life raft.

Prosecutors said the victims tried to climb to the side of the doomed 184-foot, £30 million ship in a desperate battle for air holes after it sank in a storm off Sicily.

According to chief prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio, the victims were sleeping when the unusual weather struck at around 5 a.m. local time on Monday last week and were unable to escape.

The fact that someone is being investigated in Italy does not automatically mean that they are guilty – nor does it necessarily mean that they will be charged.

Under maritime law, a captain has full responsibility for the ship and crew, as well as for the safety of everyone on board.

Cutfield and his eight surviving crew members have not yet commented publicly on the disaster.

In a press conference on Saturday, Cartosio said there may have been “behavior that was not entirely in order in view of the responsibility that everyone bore.”

He added: “It could actually be a case of murder. But this is just the beginning of the investigation, we cannot rule anything out.”

He said one of the investigations was whether the crew tried to raise the alarm among the passengers before boarding the lifeboat and escaping.

He vowed to “find out how much they (the crew) knew and to what extent all the people (passengers) were warned.”

He said: “We will determine the responsibility of each element (of the crew). To me it is likely that criminal offences were committed – that this could be a case of manslaughter.”

11

11

11

He said Captain Cutfield was “extremely cooperative” during questioning and would continue to be questioned.

Chief prosecutor Raffaele Cammarano said the Italian Air Force had determined that the boat had sunk due to a downdraft caused by a thunderstorm.

He said strong winds and a storm warning were forecast, but visibility was good and there were no signs of a tornado.

He added: “In these circumstances, there was no indication that an extreme situation might exist.

“There are ships that can monitor these incidents and you would have thought the captain would have taken precautions.”

He said a person was keeping watch in the cockpit at the time of the accident.

Bentivoglio Fiandra, chief of the Palermo fire department and part of the rescue team, said the victims “tried to hide in the cabins on the left side” where the last air holes were.

Over the course of five days, the divers made more than 120 trips to the wreck, which lay 50 metres below the water's surface. The mirrors in the cabins made their hard work even more difficult, as the light from the mirrors was reflected back at them.

It comes as…

Vincenzo Nardoni, inspector of the Naples Fire Department's diving department, said: “Inside it was a very confusing place. Wardrobes and furniture were whirling around us and there were lots of mirrors reflecting our light back at us.

“The bodies were all jammed into tight spaces, with furniture on top of them or next to them. They were all stuck there.”

Giovanni Costantino, CEO of Italian Sea Group, which built the Perini Navi shipyard's Bayesian, accused the crew of failing to “close the doors and hatches” and insisted the boat should have been “unsinkable.”

Mr Costantino recently told The Sun: “Modern sailing vessels, especially high-tech ones like the Perini, are designed for utmost safety and stability.

“Even under very critical conditions, a sailing yacht like the Bayesian will return to an upright position if procedures are followed.

“If the ship takes on water, this stability will be compromised. … What is certain is that the ship has taken on hundreds of thousands of litres of water.”

The authorities now face the delicate task of recovering the wreck intact from the depths of the sea so that it can be properly examined.

Experienced diver Bertrand Sciboz said it would be a “very special operation.”

On Saturday, he told the BBC: “They have to recover the wreckage intact and then send it back to the authorities and the police.”

“They have to recover the boat intact, but I assume they have to remove the mast first.

“First put the boat on its keel and then remove the mast.”

11

11

11

11