The captain of the superyacht that sank off the coast of Italy has been questioned by prosecutors investigating the deaths of seven passengers, Italian newspapers report. Captain James Cutfield, a 51-year old New Zealand national, is being investigated for manslaughter and shipwreck, the dailies La Repubblica and Corriere della Sera said. Such an investigation does not imply guilt.
British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, his daughter Hannah, Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer, his wife Judith Bloomer, lawyer Christopher Morvillo, his wife Neda Morvillo and chef Recaldo Thomas died in the incident in Sicily last Monday. Mr Cutfield was spoken to by magistrates for the second time in a week on Sunday, la Repubblica reported, being questioned for more than two hours. Prosecutors may also investigate a crew member who was on duty when the storm hit and survived the incident, the newspaper reported.
The Bayesian, a 56-metre-long (184-foot) superyacht, was carrying 22 people when it capsized and sank on 19 August within minutes of being hit by a pre-dawn storm while anchored off northern Sicily. Fifteen people survived, including Mr Lynch’s wife, whose company owned the Bayesian. While the yacht had been hit by a sudden meteorological event, it was plausible that crimes of multiple manslaughter and causing a shipwreck through negligence had been committed, the head of the public prosecutor’s office of Termini Imerese, Ambrogio Cartosio, said on Saturday.
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