Mike Lynch yacht sinking latest: Five bodies found in same cabin as manslaughter investigation launched

A manslaughter investigation has been launched into the deaths of seven people in the sinking of a luxury yacht off the coast of Sicily , an Italian prosecutor said.

British tech mogul Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah were among the seven people who died after the Bayesian superyacht sank near Porticello at about 5am local time on Monday.

Several bodies onboard the sunken yacht were found in a single cabin which “was not theirs”, Prosecutor Raffaele Cammarano said at a press conference in nearby town Termini Imerese.

“We have no idea of the reasons for their all being found in the same cabin,” he said.

Ambrogio Cartosio, public prosecutor of Termini Imerese said his office has opened an initial investigation into manslaughter.

“The Termini Imerese prosecution has opened a case hypothesising the crime of shipwreck and of manslaughter but we are only at the initial stage of the inquiry so far,” he said.

He added: “I have to emphasise that the development of the inquiry could actually be of any sort imaginable.”

The main question investigators are focusing on is how a sailing vessel deemed “unsinkable” by its manufacturer, Italian shipyard Perini Navi, sank while a nearby sailboat remained largely unscathed.