The sinking of the luxury yacht “Bayesian” off Palermo, in which seven people, including the British billionaire Mike Lynch, lost their lives, also raises questions about insurance law. High compensation for the 15 survivors is at stake, as the Roman daily newspaper “La Repubblica” (Saturday edition) reported.
The owner of the “Bayesian” is Lynch's widow, Angela Bacares, who was able to save herself from the accident. She lost her husband and her 18-year-old daughter Hannah. The value of the “Bayesian” is estimated at around 30 million euros. An insurance policy that Bacares took out with the Australian insurance company “British Marine” should cover the costs of salvaging the boat and any environmental damage, the paper reported. There are still 18,000 liters of fuel in the tank of the “Bayesian”. Bacares, who is also the managing director of the company based on the Isle of Man in whose name the “Bayesian” is registered, could also be compensated by the insurance company herself.
It has agreed to salvage the wreck. The shipping company “Camper & Nicholsons”, which operates the sunken yacht, is working on a salvage plan. This will be presented to the Italian authorities, who will have to approve it – which could take several weeks, Italian media reported.
The Sicilian Coast Guard is monitoring the environmental impact of the sunken luxury yacht “Bayesian”
© IMAGO / Fotogramma Guardia Costiera
Crew of the “Bayesian” in the sights of the public prosecutor
The public prosecutor's office in Sicily has opened an investigation into negligent homicide against the New Zealand captain and two crew members. The investigation is underway on suspicion of “negligent shipwreck and multiple negligent homicide”. The captain was questioned on Tuesday, but he refused to answer prosecutors' questions.
He left Italy on Thursday for Spain on a private jet. On Wednesday he was given a copy of the passport that was lost when the Bayesian sank. The two other crew members who are under investigation have also now left Italy.
On Saturday, the investigating prosecutors questioned a witness who owns a shipyard in Porticello near Palermo and who claimed to have witnessed the sinking of the “Bayesian”. In an interview with the Milan daily newspaper “Corriere della Sera”, the woman said that she went to the shipyard on the night of the shipwreck and saw how the 56-metre-long luxury yacht “swayed” in unusual weather conditions and how the sail “fluttered”.
The investigators consider the witness's statement to be relevant to the investigation. In particular, the prosecutors want to find out whether the sail was not lowered properly, which could have caused even more instability during the heavy storm. In any case, the investigators assume that the crew made several mistakes on the night of the accident.
The “Bayesian”
© IMAGO / Handout from the Perini Navi press office
Luxury yacht sank in a storm off Palermo
The sailing yacht “Bayesian”, which had ten crew members and twelve passengers on board, sank in a storm near Porticello off the coast of Palermo on the night of August 19th. The cause was thought to be a waterspout, a type of tornado. 15 passengers and crew members were rescued, but seven people lost their lives.
The victims include British billionaire Michael Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, as well as high-ranking manager of the investment bank Morgan Stanley International, Jonathan Bloomer, his wife Anne Elizabeth, lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Nada, and the ship's cook Thomas Recaldo. The autopsy of the victims' bodies is underway.
