Italy opens manslaughter probe after yacht of tycoon Mike Lynch sinks

The Italian prosecutor’s office in Sicily announced this Saturday (24.08.2024) an investigation for possible crimes of negligent shipwreck and involuntary manslaughter after the sinking off its coast of a luxury yacht in which seven people died, including the British billionaire Mike Lynch.

He Bayesian superyacht, The British-flagged ship sank in a matter of minutes on Monday about 700 metres off the port of Porticello, near Palermo, after a downpour caused by a cold snap phenomenon.

However, the investigation is at an early stage, as the last body, that of Hannah Lynch, the 18-year-old daughter of the technology magnate, was only recovered from the sea on Friday. “At this stage, precisely because the investigation can evolve in one direction or another, we are not ruling out anything at all,” said the Termini Imerese prosecutor’s office.

Lynch, 59, had invited friends and family members to the ship to celebrate their recent acquittal in a massive fraud case in the United States.

Fifteen people were rescued and the body of a man was found shortly afterwards, who was confirmed on Saturday to be the ship’s cook. A major search operation involving specialist divers found the bodies of four of Lynch’s friends on Wednesday and that of Lynch himself on Thursday.

The speed at which the sailboat sank and the fact that other vessels around her were not affected raised questions, in particular about whether the ballasted keel, which acted as a counterweight to the imposing 75-metre mast, was lowered or raised at the time of the storm.