Divers travelling to the wreck of the Bayesian yacht have retrieved a vital component which could possibly help explain why it sank, it has been reported.
Seven of the 22 passengers and crew on board the gigantic 56-metre luxury yacht died after the ship sank at around 5.00am local time on 19 August.
According to reports, this was after the boat encountered a tornado approximately half-a-mile off the coast of Porticello.
British businessman, Mike Lynch, his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer, his wife Judy Bloomer, Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo, his wife Neda Morvillo and chef Recaldo Thomas were all confirmed to have died in the sinking.
Advert
Lynch, who was known as the 'British Bill Gates' after founding software company Autonomy in 1996, was reported to have been celebrating after being cleared of conducting fraud on an £8.64 billion sale to US firm Hewlett Packard.
As of now, three crew members, which include the ship’s captain James Cutfield, are all currently under investigation by Italian authorities for manslaughter.
In a press conference, prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio said that his office had opened the investigation as 'behaviours that were not perfectly in order' could have been the reason why seven people died, but added that all possible lines of inquiry were being considered.
Advert
Under Italian law, being under investigation also doesn't imply any guilt or that further charges will be issued - and there may be more people under investigation.
Since then, divers from the Italian Navy have been visiting the wreck on behalf of the prosecutor's office, with a source telling Reuters that they have discovered video surveillance cameras fixed to the wreckage which could possibly help explain the reason for the sinking.
According to a report on Friday (13 August), a team of divers from the Italian Navy retrieved parts of the deck along with video surveillance equipment, which includes hard drives and computers.
This evidence will now be analysed in specialised labs outside of Sicily to recover any potential data, the source further claimed.
Advert
The divers made several 40 minute dives down to the yacht via a hyperbaric chamber, Coast Guard official, Daniele Governale, said, Reuters reports.
The Coast Guard has also taken underwater images with a remotely operated vehicle to sketch up a plan to raise the wreck, the outlet also says.
CCTV footage from the night of the sinking showed a clip of the yacht before it 'vanished in 60 seconds'.
Advert
And passenger Matthew Griffiths also spoke about what happened the day the ship went down.
According to Italian news agency Ansa, he said: "I woke up the captain when the wind was at 23 mph. He gave orders to wake everyone else.
"The ship tilted and we were thrown into the water. Then we managed to get back up and tried to rescue those we could.
"We were walking on the walls [of the boat]. We saved who we could, Cutfield also saved the little girl and her mother.”
Advert
The little girl in question were the surviving passengers, Charlotte Golunski and her one-year-old daughter.
LADbible reached out to the Palermo Coast Guard and the Italian Prosecutor’s Office for comment.
Topics: UK News, World News
Britt Jones