ROME — Prosecutors in Italy said Saturday they have opened an investigation into the shipwreck and manslaughter of one superyacht capsized during a storm off the coast of Sicily, which killed seven people on board.
Termini Imerese prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio confirmed the investigation but said no suspect has currently been identified.
– We are only in the initial phase of the investigation. We cannot rule out any kind of development at this time,” he told reporters at a news conference.
The main question investigators are focusing on is how a sailing vessel deemed “unsinkable” by its manufacturer, the Italian shipyard Perini Navi, sank while a nearby sailboat remained largely unscathed.
Rescuers on Friday brought ashore the last of seven bodies from the sinking of The Bayesian, a 56-meter (184-foot) British-flagged luxury yacht that went down in a storm near the Mediterranean island in southern Italy early Monday. The sailboat was carrying a crew of 10 people and 12 passengers.
The body was believed to be that of Hannah Lynch, 18, daughter of the British tech tycoon Mike Lynch. His the body was recovered Thursday. He had celebrated his recent acquittal of fraud charges with his family and the people who had defended him at the US trial. His wife, Angela Bacares, was among the 15 survivors.
Civil defense officials said they believe the yacht, which had a distinctive 75-meter (246-foot) aluminum mast, was hit by an overwater tornado, known as a waterspout, and sank quickly.
Rescue workers struggled for four days to find all the bodies, only slowly making their way through the interior of the wreck, which lay on the seabed 50 meters (164 ft) below the surface.
“The Lynch family is devastated, in shock and is being comforted and supported by family and friends. Their thoughts go out to all those affected by the tragedy,” a family spokesperson said in a statement on Friday.
The other five victims are Christopher Morvillo, one of Lynch’s US attorneys, and his wife Neda; Jonathan Bloomer, chairman of Morgan Stanley’s London-based investment banking subsidiary, and his wife Judy; and Recaldo Thomas, the yacht’s chef.