Great Britain Last casualty recovered from sunken yacht "Bayesian"
Following the sinking of a luxury yacht off the Italian Mediterranean island of Sicily, all the fatalities have now been recovered. After four days of searching, the body of the 18-year-old daughter of British billionaire Mike Lynch was the last to be brought to the surface by special divers. The young woman was lying at a depth of around 50 meters in an area of the sailing yacht "Bayesian" that was difficult to access.
23.08.2024, 14:27
SDA
The software entrepreneur himself was among the seven people who died. Lynch, one of the richest Britons, was 59 years old. His wife was one of the 15 survivors. Fortunately, another daughter was not on board. The billionaire actually wanted to celebrate with family and friends on the sailing trip that he had finally won in court after years of dispute over the sale of his company.
Accusations against the captain and chief mate
In the meantime, the accusations against the captain of the huge sailing boat are mounting because of the accident. The 51-year-old New Zealander claimed to have been surprised by the extent of the storm on Monday morning. However, there are doubts about this account: several experts are of the opinion that mistakes were made and that the ship was not properly prepared for the approaching storm. In addition to the captain, the first officer, a Frenchman, is also being criticized.
According to Italian media reports, the public prosecutor's office is about to open a formal investigation. The authority intends to make a statement at a press conference this Saturday. The Italian Perini shipyard, which built the ship in 2008, said that there had been a "very long series of errors". "The people should not have been in the cabins, the ship should not have been anchored there. The storm was clearly visible on all weather charts."
The 56-metre-long "Bayesian" - named after a British mathematician from the 18th century - was one of the largest sailing yachts in the world. It is now half a nautical mile - around 900 meters - aground off the small port of Porticello. With the exception of the ship's cook, the entire crew survived. However, half of the twelve passengers are dead. In addition to Lynch and his daughter Hannah, they included two married couples. They were probably all trapped in the cabins on the lower deck. According to British media reports, the billionaire was on the verge of selling the yacht a few months ago.
Lynch's friend also died recently
Tech entrepreneur Lynch was often referred to as the "British Bill Gates" in his home country. Lynch sold the software company Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard in 2011 for eleven billion US dollars (currently almost ten billion euros) - one of the worst takeover debacles in Silicon Valley. Together with former finance manager Steve Chamberlain, he is alleged to have misled the US group about the state of their company. However, a jury acquitted the two of them. Chamberlain also died a few days ago: he was hit by a car while jogging.
