After the recovery of the Mike Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter’s body, Italian prosecutors are investigating possible manslaughter charges in connection with the sinking of the superyacht Bayesian, according to The Guardian report. The Bayesian went down off the coast of Sicily early Monday morning amid severe storms, resulting in the deaths of seven people, including British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch. After a four-day search, the Italian coastguard announced on Friday that they had recovered the body of Lynch’s daughter Hannah, the last person missing from the luxury yacht.
According to The Guardian , citing the PA Media news agency, a green body bag was seen being transported from the site of the sinking to Porticello just before 1 pm local time. The public prosecutor in Termini Imerese is investigating the sinking on charges of shipwreck, disaster, and multiple homicides, added the report, citing Italian news agency Adnkronos . These charges are akin to manslaughter in the UK, with the specific offense of causing a shipwreck potentially carrying a prison sentence of up to 12 years.
Prosecutors are set to hold a press conference on the matter in Termini Imerese on Saturday afternoon, The Guardian reported. Mike Lynch, 59, founder of Autonomy Corporation, had been celebrating his acquittal on US fraud charges when the 56-meter yacht capsized around 5 am local time on Monday. According to the report, citing Adnkronos , investigators believe the yacht sank bow-first before slowly tipping onto its right side.
Sources involved in the recovery operations said the victims were found outside their cabins. “The passengers sought escape routes, reaching the opposite side of the vessel they were in,” the report quoted Adnkronos as saying. “But the water had already reached the cabins and five of them were found in that direction,” it added.
Five victims were found in different locations than those indicated by survivors. Search efforts for Hannah, the last missing person, resumed on Friday morning, with divers now inspecting the seabed around the wreck. Vincenzo Zagarola of the Italian coastguard described the search as challenging, likening the sunken yacht to an “18-storey building full of water.
” Carlo Dall’Oppio, head of Italy’s firefighters, noted that the search for the teenager was hindered by obstructing furniture. The other deceased included Jonathan Bloomer, chair of Morgan Stanley International, his wife Judy, Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo, his wife Neda, and the yacht’s chef, Recaldo Thomas. With inputs from agencies.
