‘Indescribable’ crew errors led to Sicilia sinking, yacht maker says By Reuters

By Matteo Negri

MILAN (Reuters) – A series of “unspeakable, unreasonable errors” by the crew led to the shipwreck in which British technology entrepreneur Mike Lynch and six others died earlier this week, the yacht manufacturer’s chief executive told Reuters.

The British-flagged Bayesian, a 56-metre-long (184-foot) superyacht with 22 people on board – 12 passengers and 10 crew – capsized and sank within minutes on Monday after being hit by a storm before dawn while anchored off the coast. from northern Sicily.

“The boat suffered a series of indescribable, unreasonable errors, the impossible happened on that boat … but it went down because it took on water. From where, the investigators will say,” Giovanni Costantino said in an interview.

Costantino heads The Italian Sea Group, which includes Perini Navi, the Italian high-end yacht builder that built Bayesian in 2008. The vessel has been refitted twice, most recently in 2020, but not by Perini.

The CEO ruled out any design or construction errors, which he called unlikely after 16 years of trouble-free sailing, including in weather more severe than Monday.

He blamed the Bayesian’s crew for the “incredible mistake” of not being prepared for the storm, which had been announced in shipping forecasts. “This is wrong that cries out for vengeance,” he said.

Costantino said passengers should have exited their cabins and assembled at a point of safety while the boat was prepared for the storm by hauling anchor, closing doors and hatches, lowering the keel to increase stability and other measures.

Six of 12 passengers died in the wreck, and five bodies were found inside the wreckage. Emergency services are still trying to locate the body of the last missing person, Lynch’s daughter Hannah.

If the correct procedures had been followed, all the passengers would have gone back to sleep after an hour “and the next morning would have happily resumed their wonderful cruise,” Costantino said.

Another yacht anchored near the Bayesian escaped unharmed. The captain of the sunken yacht and other crew members have not commented publicly on the disaster, while Italian prosecutors investigating it are due to hold a press conference on Saturday.