Passengers of luxury sailboat that capsized in Sicily tried desperately to save themselves for 16 minutes

They could not be saved because a huge amount of water entered through the open door in the bow, and the superyacht sank rapidly and tilted to the right side, starboard, at a depth of 50 meters. Precisely, the new information that emerges from the investigation is that the boat sank in the place where the crew cabins were, according to the testimony of 15 survivors, including Angela Bekeres57, wife of British tycoon mike lynch (59), the owner of the yacht.

Prosecutors are investigating charges of manslaughter, multiple homicide and injuries caused by negligence, with no suspects so far emerging, although the status of the captain, a New Zealander James Cutfield, According to Italian media, the 51-year-old is getting worse. The main hypothesis of the researchers is that in the early hours of Monday, when the tragedy occurred, there were a series of human errors that may have caused the boat to sink.

The mobile daggerboard in a high position can be a determining factor in the reduced stability of the sailboat, as well as leaving a hatch on the upper deck open, turning off the engine and delaying the activation of the automatic system that keeps the boat safe in case of danger. In addition, the storm caught them by surpriseDespite weather warnings having been announced in the previous hours.

Giovanni CostantinoExecutive Director of the Italian Sea GroupThe owner of several boat brands, including yacht manufacturer Perini Navi, told the Financial Times that the Bayesian was “designed to be absolutely stable and to support a 75-metre mast, the second tallest in the world. The ship sank due to water enteringCostantino said, suggesting that proper procedures were not followed. Giovanni Costantino said 16 minutes had passed Since the ship was swept by a tornado, this time may have been enough for the crew to secure the ship and rescue the passengers.

“The torture lasted 16 minutes,” Costantino said. “It didn’t happen in one minute, as some people have said, but in 16 minutes. You can see it in the graph, in the AIS (Automatic Identification System) tracking graph. That financial Times It has been verified that the AIS data corresponds to the time reported by Constantinos. The British newspaper clarifies that “at this time it is not possible to confirm with confidence what may have happened during this period.”

According to Costantino, the captain should have prepared the superyacht and put it in a state of alert and safety, just as the ship, anchored at 350 meters, was built in 1957 and handled the weather conditions brilliantly, “said Costantino in reference to Sailboat. Dutch Sir Robert Baden Powell, Who immediately came to the aid of the Bayesian passengers.

Meanwhile, the search resumed this morning to find the last missing person from the Bayesian shipwreck, Daughter of English tycoon Hannah Lynch18 years old. Her friends describe her as a model student and passionate feminist who had just graduated and was about to enter college. University of Oxford on September.

The operations are complex and extend to the seabed surrounding the boat. This circumstance, the failure to find Hannah Lynch so far, confirms the dramatic sequence of terror experienced by the 22 people on board, seven of whom were unable to escape.