Captain of Bayesian superyacht investigated for 'manslaughter and shipwreck' after Sicily tragedy

The captain of the Bayesian superyacht which sank off the coast of Sicily last week is being investigated for manslaughter and shipwreck, according to reports.

British tech tycoon Mike Lynch and his daughter were among seven people who died when the ship sank during a tornado near Porticello in the early hours of August 19.

Captain James Cutfield, a 51-year-old New Zealand national, is being investigated for manslaughter and shipwreck, Italian newspapers La Repubblica and Corriere della Sera said.

Being placed under investigation in Italy does not imply guilt and does not mean formal charges will necessarily follow.

The head of the public prosecutor’s office of Termini Imerese, Ambrogio Cartosio, said on Saturday that it was plausible that crimes of multiple manslaughter and causing a shipwreck through negligence had been committed.

Magistrates questioned Mr Cutfield for more than two hours on Sunday, La Repubblica reported.

The newspaper claimed that prosecutors may also investigate a crew member who was on duty when the storm hit and survived the incident.

Under maritime law, a captain has full responsibility for the ship and the crew, as well as the safety of all aboard.

Mr Cutfield and his eight surviving crew members have not publicly commented on the investigation.

Last week, Mr Cutfield told Italian media that he “did not see” the storm coming.

On Saturday, maritime director of western Sicily Rear Admiral Raffaele Macauda said the weather at the time of the yacht’s sinking was abnormal and there was nothing to suggest such an extreme situation would arise.

The 184-ft long superyacht was carrying 22 people when it capsized and sunk last Monday just minutes after being hit by a pre-dawn storm.

Fifteen people survived the incident, including Mr Lynch’s wife Angela Bacares.

Franco Romani, a nautical architect that was part of the team that designed the boat, told La Stampa that the Bayesian was “built to go to sea in any weather”.

Giovanni Costantino, founder and chief executive of The Italian Sea Group, has described the Bayesian as “one of the safest boats in the world” and denied suggestions that the boat’s construction was at fault.

Mr Lynch, who founded software giant Autonomy in 1996, was cleared in June of carrying out a massive fraud relating to its £8.64 billion sale to US company Hewlett Packard. The boat trip was a celebration of his acquittal.

Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer, his wife Judy Bloomer, Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo, and his wife Neda Morvillo were also lost when the Bayesian sank.

Ex-court appointed guard says Mike Lynch ‘became more like a family’

Mike Lynch and daughter Hannah were ‘part of a united, vibrant, loving family’

Timeline of the Bayesian luxury yacht disaster in Sicily