Photo of ill-fated Bayesian superyacht minutes before it sunk and killed seven ‘shows door on doomed vessel was closed’
A photo of the ill-fated Bayesian superyacht, taken just minutes before it sank, appears to show that a door on the ship was closed, after it was said to have been left open.
The photo, taken by a passenger aboard a neighboring yacht, contradicts allegations that the crew accidentally left a door open and allowed water to flood the boat.
It took 14 minutes for the Bayesian to crash during a freak storm off the coast of Sicily, killing seven people, including British technology mogul Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah.
Three crew members are being investigated by prosecutors in Sicily after being accused of leaving the large port side door of the 56-metre yacht open.
The flooding is said to have started after heavy winds and waves pushed water through the door into the hull.
The photo, taken by a passenger aboard a neighboring yacht, contradicts claims that the crew accidentally left a door open and allowed water to flood the boat
Rescuers stand by after recovering Hannah Lynch’s body off the coast of Porticello
Rescue personnel and divers will search off the coast of Porticello on August 21
However, two photos – to be published in an ITV documentary broadcast on Thursday – appear to show the door closed in the hours and minutes leading up to the sinking.
Passengers aboard the Sir Robert Baden Powell, a yacht anchored about 100 yards from the Bayesian, took the photos.
Karsten Borner, the Dutch captain of the Sir Robert Baden Powell, provided the photos for the documentary and told German newspaper Der Spiegel that he was irritated by the shipbuilder’s repeated attempts to blame the crew.
His frustration came after Giovanni Costantino, owner of the Perini Navi company that built the Bayesian in 2008, described the yacht as “unsinkable” and claimed the crew had left doors or hatches open, allowing water to enter.
The head of the Italian Sea Group blamed the crew for failing to rescue the seven people who died, stating: “If all twenty had been on deck, with lifeboats in the water, the yacht would have sunk, but they would all have twenty have been saved. .’
Borner and his crew retrieved fifteen survivors from the sinking yacht, including nine crew members and six passengers.
The British-flagged Bayesian superyacht (pictured) was owned by technology magnate Mike Lynch
British tech mogul Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah both died in the Bayesian tragedy when the superyacht sank off the coast of Sicily
Interviewed for the ITV documentary – The Sinking of a Superyacht – How Safe Is Your Voyage?, he recalled the traumatic moments: ‘My first mate said ‘she’s gone, she’s sunk’, and I laughed at him and said Something so big doesn’t disappear in a minute. He was right.’
Italian firefighter Fabio Paoletti, who dove into the water to help find the bodies on board, said Hannah Lynch was the hardest victim to find.
‘The girl was at the end, in the last room. “She was small and hidden behind a mattress, so it took longer to see her,” he said.
It is expected that float balloons or a crane on a barge will be used to raise the Bayesian, with plans expected to be finalized in the coming weeks.
Salvage expert Bertrand Sciboz said he thought the second option was possible, with costs rising to more than €2 million.
“You would need a big ship and put slings under the hull of the Bayesian and rescue it very slowly with a big crane on the ship,” he said, adding, “You have to be very careful to keep it intact .’