ROME — A multiple manslaughter investigation has been launched into the captain of a superyacht that sank in a violent storm off Sicily , killing British tech magnate Mike Lynch and five other people, his lawyer told NBC News Monday. James Cutfield is also being investigated for causing a shipwreck, Giovanni Rizzuti said in a telephone conversation. He added that Cutfield, 51, will be questioned by Sicilian prosecutors again on Tuesday.
News of the probe had earlier been widely reported by Italian newspapers. Being placed under investigation in Italy does not imply guilt and does not mean formal charges will necessarily follow. Notices to people under investigation need to be sent out before authorities can carry out the autopsies on the bodies of the dead.
It is unclear whether other members of the crew of the $40 million Bayesian or any other people will also be put under investigation along with Cutfield, a New Zealand national. After the luxury 180-foot vessel went down in the early hours of last Monday, 15 of the 22 people onboard survived when they were rescued from the waters off Porticello, a small fishing port off the northern coast of Sicily. The body of Recaldo Thomas, a Canadian Antiguan national who was the ship’s cook, was recovered shortly after the ship went down.
A massive search effort was then launched for Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter, Hannah, as well as Jonathan Bloomer, chairman of Morgan Stanley International and the British insurance firm Hisc.