Italian Prosecutors Expand Probe of Bayesian Superyacht Sinking to 2 More Crew Members

The Bayesian yacht docked at a port in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar, in a file photo. Illustration by The Epoch Times, @dannywheelz via TMX/Reuters

Italian prosecutors have added two more crew members to their investigation into the sinking of the superyacht Bayesian, which resulted in the death of seven people, including British tech tycoon Mike Lynch and his daughter, according to their lawyer.

On Monday, the ship’s captain, New Zealander James Cutfield, was placed under investigation for possible manslaughter and culpable shipwreck charges.

Since Wednesday, Tim Parker Eaton, the engineer who was in charge of securing the yacht’s engine room, and sailor Matthew Griffith, who was on watch duty on the night of the incident, have been under investigation for the same possible charges, lawyer Mario Scopesi told The Associated Press.

“The profile of their possible responsibilities is still unclear, as the investigation has just started,” Scopesi said.

The bodies of Lynch, a Morgan Stanley executive, and five others, including Lynch’s daughter Hannah, were recovered following the sinking of the yacht in Sicily on Aug. 19 after it capsized in a storm.

Investigation

Ambrogio Cartosio, a government prosecutor in the Italian town of Termini Imerese, said in an Aug. 24 press conference that his office had opened an initial investigation into possible manslaughter.

“It is probable that offenses were committed, that it could be a case of manslaughter, but we can only establish that if you give us the time to investigate,” he said, noting that no suspects had yet been identified.

Cutfield’s lawyer, Aldo Mordiglia, said he decided not to answer prosecutors’ questions on Tuesday.

“He just exercised his right to remain silent, probably prosecutors were expecting that,” Mordiglia told The Associated Press, adding that the captain’s legal team had just been named and needed time to work on his defensive strategy.

Under Italian laws, being under investigation doesn’t imply guilt or necessarily lead to criminal charges.

Undated image of Mike Lynch (R) and his daughter Hannah, who both died when the superyacht Bayesian sank off Sicily on Aug. 19, 2024. Family handout/PA Wire

The investigation will seek to determine how such a huge vessel, a 184-foot British-flagged luxury yacht deemed “unsinkable” by its manufacturer, sank within sight of the shore in about 15 minutes. A nearby sailboat remained largely unscathed.

At around 5 a.m. on Aug. 19, about an hour before sunrise, the Bayesian was buffeted by tremendous winds. The Italian coast guard said shipping forecasts had foretold bad weather, but it was worse than predicted.

The crew was saved, except for the chef, while six passengers were trapped in the hull.

Giovanni Costantino, CEO of The Italian Sea Group, the company that owns superyacht builder Perini Navi, told Sky News that the boats’ structure and keel make them “unsinkable bodies.”

Costantino said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera that an “endless chain of errors” led to the Bayesian’s sinking.

Mike Lynch

Lynch was the founder and former CEO of the software firm Autonomy. His wife, Angela Bacares, was the Bayesian’s legal owner.

Lynch had invited some close friends and work colleagues on a boating trip to celebrate his June acquittal in a federal fraud case in California.

He had been cleared of defrauding Hewlett-Packard when he sold Autonomy, a software company he co-founded, to the U.S. computer giant in an $11 billion deal in 2011.

His co-defendant in the fraud trial, 52-year-old Stephen Chamberlain, died after being hit by a vehicle while out running in Cambridgeshire, England, on Aug. 17. Chamberlain had also been cleared of any wrongdoing in the trial.

Among the guests on the Bayesian were Jonathan Bloomer, chairman of Morgan Stanley International Bank, his wife, Judy, Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo—who had been part of Lynch’s defense team at the trial—and his wife, Neda.

They all died along with Lynch and the boat’s chef, Recaldo Thomas, an Antiguan Canadian national.

The Associated Press, Tom Ozimek, and Chris Summers contributed to this report.