Current:Home > StocksCaptain of Bayesian, Mike Lynch's sunken superyacht, under investigation in Italy -Quantum Capital Pro
Captain of Bayesian, Mike Lynch's sunken superyacht, under investigation in Italy
View
Date:2025-04-12 10:33:26
Italian prosecutors are investigating whether the captain of Mike Lynch’s superyacht was at fault when the ship rapidly sank off the coast of Sicily last week, killing Lynch and six other people, a judicial source told Reuters.
James Cutfield, 51, the captain of the Bayesian yacht, is now under investigation for manslaughter and shipwreck, according to the source and Italian media.
Apart from bad weather, authorities in the nearby town of Termini Imerese are investigating multiple crimes of manslaughter and causing a shipwreck in connection with the disaster, according to Ambrogio Cartosio, the head of the public prosecutor's office for the town, who made the announcement during a news conference on Saturday morning.
Investigators have interrogated Cutfield twice since the ship went down just before sunrise on August 19, capsizing its 22 passengers. Prosecutors have interviewed passengers and the eight other surviving crew members, but have not yet named any other parties under investigation.
Cutfield and his surviving crew members have not yet commented publicly on the disaster. A request for comment sent by USA TODAY to a social media account apparently belonging to Cutfield went unanswered on Monday.
Under Italian law, people under investigation need to be notified before autopsies can be performed on the deceased. The investigation will not necessarily lead to charges, including against Cutfield.
The Bayesian, a luxury yacht owned by Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, sank off the coast of Porticello as a storm swept through the area, whipping up a tornado over the water. In the immediate aftermath of the wreck, 15 passengers were rescued and Recaldo Thomas, the ship’s cook who also goes by Ricardo, was found dead.
Lynch, his 18-year-old daughter, Hannah, and four other passengers were found dead inside the ship following a days-long rescue operation. The victims included Chris Morvillo, an American citizen and lawyer for Clifford Chance, his wife, Neda Morvillo, Jonathan Bloomer, a non-executive chair of Morgan Stanley International, and his wife, Judy Bloomer.
Maritime law expert says captain could be at fault
Martin Davies, Admiralty Law Institute professor of maritime law at Tulane University, said there are two factors in the lead-up to the shipwreck that could put Cutfield and his crew at fault – the positions of the ship’s hatch covers and its keel.
The ship's retractable keel could counterbalance the weight of its mast, one of the largest in the world, when down. A failure by the crew to lower it could factor into the investigation, Davies said.
“With a giant mast like it's got, it might make more sense to put the keel down, because that would make it less likely to capsize,” he said.
The yacht may have filled with water from an open side hatch, Franco Romani, a nautical architect who helped to design the ship, told daily La Stampa in an interview on Monday.
"The Bayesian was built to go to sea in any weather," Romani said.
Davies said if the hatch covers were open, “the ship is going to sink more quickly, once it has capsized."
Since the Bayesian was registered in the U.K., British authorities “will be obliged” to open their own investigation, Davies said.
That investigation could also target the ship’s captain or crew for negligence. Bacares, the ship’s owner, would almost certainly not be a target in a criminal investigation, he added.
Davies said that under U.K. law, the owner is only to blame if they "knowingly and willfully caused or allowed the fault” that led to the shipwreck.
Davies said although it is likely too early in the process to pin down negligence charges, Italian authorities may have implicated Cutfield in order to assert their authority to continue investigating the case.
“They have to find a peg upon which to hang their ability to investigate, and I think that's what they've done,” Davies said.
Contributing: Reuters
veryGood! (39)
Related
- US wholesale inflation accelerated in November in sign that some price pressures remain elevated
- Watch Brie and Nikki Garcia Help Siblings Find Their Perfect Match in Must-See Twin Love Trailer
- German authorities halt a search for 4 sailors missing after 2 ships collided in the North Sea
- Alicia Navarro update: What we know about former boyfriend Edmund Davis and child sex abuse charges
- Buckingham Palace staff under investigation for 'bar brawl'
- China announces plan for a new space telescope as it readies to launch its next space station crew
- Samsung fridge doesn't work? You're not alone. Complaints are piling up with no action.
- Week 8 fantasy football rankings: Lamar Jackson leads Ravens' resurgence
- EU countries double down on a halt to Syrian asylum claims but will not yet send people back
- T.J. Holmes, Amy Robach pose for Instagram pics a year after cheating scandal: '#truelove'
Ranking
- Charges tied to China weigh on GM in Q4, but profit and revenue top expectations
- Deal that ensured Black representation on Louisiana’s highest court upheld by federal appeals panel
- Environmental groups reject deep-sea mining as key UN meeting looms
- Hungary hosts international training for military divers who salvage unexploded munitions
- Former longtime South Carolina congressman John Spratt dies at 82
- Richard Roundtree, 'Shaft' action hero and 'Roots' star, dies at 81 from pancreatic cancer
- Giving up on identity with Ada Limón
- NHL rescinds ban on rainbow-colored Pride tape, allowing players to use it on the ice this season
Recommendation
In ‘Nickel Boys,’ striving for a new way to see
5 Things podcast: Blinken urges 'humanitarian pauses' but US won't back ceasefire in Gaza
Poland’s Tusk visits Brussels, seeking initiative in repairing ties with EU and unlocking funds
Honolulu tells story of healers with dual male and female spirit through new plaque in Waikiki
Civic engagement nonprofits say democracy needs support in between big elections. Do funders agree?
Sept. 2024 date set for trial of 2 teens as adults in fatal Vegas bicyclist crash seen on video
Hamas releases 2 Israeli hostages from Gaza as war continues
Health care workers say workplace harassment doubled from 2018 to 2022, survey finds