Salvagers to remove Mike Lynch's superyacht Bayesian from sea off Sicily
Salvage teams in Sicily have said they aim to bring Mike Lynch's superyacht 'fully and finally out of the water' on Saturday after it sank during a storm, killing seven people including the tech tycoon and his teenage daughter.
The white top and blue hull of the Bayesian, which ran into trouble off the coast of the Italian island in August last year, emerged from the sea on Friday to sit the holding area of a yellow floating crane barge.
Once fully out of the water, the 56-metre (184ft) vessel will be transported to the port of Termini Imerese, where investigators are expected to examine it as part of an inquiry into the cause of the sinking.
'Pumping out of sea water will continue and it will be [Saturday] lunchtime, following a series of lifting and resting procedures to satisfy the salvage team, before Bayesian is fully and finally out of the water,' said David Wilson, a spokesperson for TMC Maritime, which is conducting the recovery operation.
Over the last three days the Bayesian has been slowly raised from the seabed, 50 metres (165ft) below, to allow steel lifting straps, slings and harnesses to be secured under the keel.
The operation, which has cost approximately $30m (£22m), was made easier after the vessel's 72-metre mast was detached using a remote-controlled cutting tool and placed on the seabed on Tuesday.
Eight steel lifting straps were being used to support the hull upright and to form part of a steel wire lifting system to raise the vessel. Sea water was pumped from the hull as it was lifted.
TMC Maritime, a British-based consultancy, said the vessel would be held upright, out of the water, for checks and preparations for its final journey.
On Sunday, it is anticipated the floating crane platform will move the Bayesian to a special steel cradle at Termini Imerese.
The Bayesian was anchored just offshore near the port of Porticello, in the province of Palermo, when it sank during a violent storm shortly before dawn on 19 August 2024.
Lynch had been cleared two months earlier of fraud charges in the US relating to the purchase of his company, Autonomy, by Hewlett-Packard in 2011, and was enjoying a voyage around Sicily to celebrate with his 18-year-old daughter, Hannah, and his wife, Angela Bacares, whose company owned the Bayesian.
The lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife, Neda, the banker Jonathan Bloomer and his wife, Judy, and the yacht's chef, Recaldo Thomas, were also killed when the vessel sank. Nine other crew members and six guests – including Bacares – were rescued.
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The complex salvage operation was temporarily suspended in mid-May after Rob Cornelis Maria Huijben, a 39-year-old Dutch diver, died during underwater work.
Investigators hope the yacht will yield clues to the causes of the sinking. A forensic examination will seek to determine whether one of the hatches remained open and whether the keel was improperly raised.
Prosecutors have opened an inquiry into suspected manslaughter. The boat's captain, James Cutfield, from New Zealand, and two British crew members, Tim Parker Eaton and Matthew Griffiths, have been placed under investigation. In Italy, this does not imply guilt or mean that formal charges will necessarily follow.
According to a preliminary safety report released last month by the UK's Marine Accident Investigation Branch, the Bayesian may have been vulnerable to high winds when running on its engine. These 'vulnerabilities' were 'unknown to either the owner or the crew' as they were not included in the stability information book onboard.
The MAIB said a possible 'tornadic waterspout' headed towards the boats in the harbour. The docks seemed to divert the whirlwind, which went straight towards the Bayesian, and the vessel sank within a few seconds.
In September, Italian authorities requested additional security around the wreck after fears were raised that material in watertight safes onboard might be of interest to foreign governments.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
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