Shipwreck in Sicily: the six victims found dead… Human errors at the origin of the tragedy ?

The body of the seventh and last person missing in the sinking of the sailing ship “Bayesian” was found this Friday, August 23 after five days of searching. Two investigations have been opened to shed light on the causes of the tragedy that occurred off the coast of Sicily.

None of the people missing in the sinking of the sailing ship “Bayesian” on Monday, August 19 off the coast of Palermo, Sicily, survived. The bodies of the seven people who sank with the boat were found near or inside the wreck, 50 meters deep: the first a few hours after the tragedy, five others during the day on Wednesday, August 21, and the last one this Friday, August 23, after five days of searching. The owner of the luxury sailboat, businessman Mike Lynch, nicknamed the “British Bill Gates”, and his 18-year-old daughter, Hanna, are among the victims.

While seven people died, fifteen others were found safe and sound after the sailboat sank. With the death toll from the shipwreck set and all the missing persons found, it is now time for explanations. Two investigations have been opened: one in criminal court by prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio of the city of Termini Imerese, located about twenty kilometers from Porticello where the shipwreck took place, and the other is administrative and conducted by the Maritime Directorate of Palermo. If the shipwreck occurred after a waterspout, the question of potential human errors arises.

What happened this Monday, August 19th off the coast of Palermo ?

It was around 5am on Monday, August 19th when the “Bayesian”, a 56-metre sailing ship flying the British flag, sank after being hit by a waterspout, a highly dangerous meteorological phenomenon characterised by by a rotating column of air and water. On board were twelve passengers and ten crew members, the majority of whom were British.

British tech tycoon Mike Lynch, owner of the sunken boat, nicknamed the “British Bill Gates” had organized a cruise aboard his super-sailing boat to celebrate with his relatives, several of his employees and his lawyers, a party after being acquitted in a fraud case in the United States. Thus, among the others still wanted is Chris Morvillo, the lawyer partner of the firm Clifford Chance and his wife, as well as Jonathan Bloomer, the chairman of the board of directors of Morgan Stanley International and his wife.

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15:25 – The storm was predictable according to the yacht's builder

“Wonder why none of the fishermen from Porticello went out that night. One fisherman checks the conditions and one ship doesn't? The disturbance was perfectly readable on all the weather charts. “It was impossible not to know,” said Giovanni Constatino, founder and CEO of the Italian Sea Group, the owner of the Perini Navi shipyard where the Bayesian was built.

14:29 – The boat should not have been anchor in such weather conditions

If the sailboat was hit by a waterspout, a violent storm that breaks out at sea, the boat should not have been anchored at this location due to the weather conditions according to the owner of the builder who designed the “Bayesian”, Giovanni Costantino, reports BFMTV: “Passengers were not to be in the cabins, the ship was not to be at anchor”. Even if the ship had stopped, it could have left the area and gotten to safety within sight of the storm before falling victim to it according to the same man: “It is customary, when the ship is at anchor, to have a guard on deck, and if he was there, he could not have failed to see the storm coming” and then “fifteen minutes would have been enough to activate all the security measures”.

13:25 – Human errors responsible for the sinking ?

Mike Lynch's sailboat that sank on Monday, August 19, was caught in a major storm, a waterspout, before sinking, but the weather is not the only cause of the sinking that cost the lives of 7 people. According to the boss of the naval group The Italian Sea Group, owner of the shipyard that built the boat, “everything that happened reveals a long series of “human errors”. Several specialists also question and point the finger at the height of the mast, the raised mobile centerboard, or even the hatches left open.

13:12 – Two investigations opened after the shipwreck in Sicily

An investigation has been opened “for negligent shipwreck” by the prosecutor of the city of Termini Imerese, not far from the site of the shipwreck, according to the Italian daily Corriere Della Serra. At the same time, the British media The Guardian indicates that another investigation has been opened by the port authority to determine whether all the security measures have been taken by the crew of the sailboat. 

She was the seventh and last person reported missing after the sinking of the sailboat "Bayesian" off the coast of Sicily. Hanna, the daughter of businessman Mike Lynch and owner of the boat that sank, was found dead this Friday, August 23, on the fifth day of searches. With this discovery, the death toll from the shipwreck rises to seven: those of Mike Lynch, his wife, two couples of friends of the businessman and the sailboat's chef.