Bayesian shipwreck: Captain James Cutfield charged with manslaughter (video)

The bodies of those killed in the Bayesian yacht crash have been raised to shore, the crew has been questioned, work to prevent a fuel leak continues, and an investigation into the tragedy is underway.

By message euronews, investigators are trying to establish what happened on the fateful night of August 19 at the sinking of the British sailing ship Bayesian off the coast of Porticello in the Palermo area.

After The ship's captain, James Cutfield, has been named as a suspect in manslaughter.magistrates in the city of Termini Imerese heard testimony from other crew members who may also be under investigation. According to some reports, this has already happened to a number of people, but there is no official confirmation of this yet.

According to anonymous information, The ship's first mate, 33-year-old Dutchman Thijs Koopman, was included in the list of suspectsThe Termini Imerese prosecutor's office can order an autopsy of the bodies of the deceased, which gives the defense the right to appoint its own consultants to participate in the examinations carried out by experts from the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Palermo.

The shipwreck's death toll stands at seven: six passengers, including British businessman and millionaire Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, and chef Tomas Recaldo. Fifteen people, crew members and passengers, survived. Among them is Angela Bacares, Lynch's widow and the owner of the company the yacht is registered to.

Last Sunday, the judges questioned all the members of the yacht's crew. Hundreds of pages of protocols in English will be translated into Italian, and they should be ready for the prosecutors in a month at the most.

James Cutfield will be heard for the third time by investigators on Tuesday at the Domina Zagarella Hotel in Santa Flavia, Palermo, where the crew have been staying since the tragedy. Most of them have already left or will leave Sicily in the next few hours – the boatswain, two deckhands, the chief engineer and three hostesses.

The captain and his assistant will have to stay longer – investigators may have additional questions. Cutfield, 50, a New Zealand native from Auckland with many years of experience as a skipper, who is charged with manslaughter, is being defended by two prominent Italian lawyers: Giovanni Rizzuti of Palermo and Aldo Mordiglia of Genoa. The first of them says:

“James Cutfield is very upset about what happened and this case, but he is determined to defend himself against the charges brought against him by the prosecution.”

The evidence from Cutfield and his deputy, Koopman, is key to establishing what exactly happened that fateful night and whether the crew made mistakes when the storm caught them by surprise. Many questions remain unanswered:

1. Why did the sailboat remain anchored close to the shore when bad weather was forecast?
2. Were the hatches open and did they fill with water?
3. Why weren't passengers warned in time?
4. How could it happen that a technologically advanced 56-metre sailing ship with the world's tallest 75-metre mast sank in a matter of seconds?

The main hypothesis is that the sailboat was caught in a so-called waterspout or “downburst” – a local weather phenomenon that occurs during a thunderstorm. And yet experts are still unclear why the ship, built by the Italian shipyard Perini Navi and called unsinkable, sank.

According to rescue service divers, the movable centerboard, which ensures the vessel's stable position, was lifted. This may have contributed to the sinking.

Now, coast guard divers, on the prosecutor's orders, have returned to inspect the sailboat. They They take photographs of every detail and check the tightness of the tanks, which store 18 tons of fuel and oil. At the moment, no leaks have been recorded.. Although fishermen are worried, and the mayor of Santa Flavia, Giuseppe D'Agostino, says:

“It's an ecological bomb at the bottom of our sea. We're all a little worried.”

Bayesian's owner Camper & Nicholsons is working on a plan to salvage the wreck, which lies on its starboard side in 49 metres of water. The first priority is to extract the contents of the tanks so that the yacht can be safely raised to the surface.

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