Italian divers recover video equipment from Mike Lynch’s sunken yacht By Reuters

By Wladimir Pantaleone

PALERMO (Reuters) – Italian navy divers have recovered video surveillance equipment from the superyacht that sank off Sicily last month, killing British tech tycoon Mike Lynch and six others, a source close to the matter said on Friday.

The recovery of the equipment could help explain why the British-flagged Bayesian went down in a heavy and sudden storm off the port of Porticello, near Palermo, on August 19 – an event that has puzzled naval experts.

Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter, four guests and the chef died when the 56-metre-long (184-foot) yacht capsized and sank within minutes. Fifteen people, including Lynch’s wife, survived and were rescued by a nearby vessel which was unharmed.

Highly specialized divers comb the wreckage on behalf of prosecutors investigating the sinking.

Late Thursday, they recovered parts of the deck, computer equipment, video surveillance systems, hard drives and various other equipment, the source said. The electronic devices will be sent to specialized laboratories outside Sicily to check their condition and possibly recover the data, the source added.

Daniele Governale, a coast guard official in Palermo, said the divers were using a hyperbaric chamber that allowed them to make repeated dives of up to 40 minutes.

The Coast Guard took underwater images with a remotely operated vehicle that will help develop a plan to rescue the yacht.

Three crew members, including New Zealand captain James Cutfield, are being investigated for manslaughter and shipwreck. Being investigated does not imply guilt and does not mean that formal charges will follow.

Prosecutors said their investigation would take time and require the wreckage to be recovered from the seabed. The Bayesian is lying on the right side at a depth of about 50 meters.