Photo 'shows Bayesian door was shut minutes before superyacht sank'

A photograph appears to show a large door of the Bayesian was closed minutes before the superyacht sank - contrary to claims it may have been left open.

Seven people, including British tech magnate Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, died when the 56m superyacht sank in a storm off the coast of Sicily in the early hours of August 19.

Prosecutors are investigating three people on possible manslaughter and shipwreck charges , after the boat sank despite another yacht that was moored nearby managing to weather the storm.

It has been alleged that crew on board Bayesian left a large door towards the rear of the craft’s port side open, meaning waves were able to wash in, contributing to it sinking quickly.

But a photo taken by a passenger on another nearby yacht - the Sir Robert Baden Powell - just 14 minutes before the sinking appears to show the door was shut, The Times reports.

The Sir Robert Baden Powell was reportedly anchored just 100m from Bayesian when the storm hit, but it survived the fierce weather.

The photograph and another taken by a passenger are due to appear in an ITV documentary about the Bayesian sinking that airs on Thursday. Both images were reportedly supplied by the yacht’s Dutch captain Karsten Borner.

Mr Borner has previously said that when the storm hit he turned the engine on to keep control of his vessel and avoid colliding with the Bayesian.

"We managed to keep the ship in position and after the storm was over, we noticed that the ship behind us was gone," he said.

The Bayesian "went flat on the water, and then down," he added. "It all happened in really little time.”

The yacht sinking has puzzled experts , who said a vessel like the Bayesian, built by Italian high-end yacht manufacturer Perini, should have withstood the storm and should not have sunk as quickly as it did.

Giovanni Costantino, chief executive of Perini, defended the yacht's design to Sky News, saying there were no flaws or mistakes in the Bayesian.

In a separate interview with Italian TV, he attributed the wreck to "human error". "The ship sank because it took on water,” he said. “From where, the investigators will say."

Prosecutors in the town of Termini Imerese, near Palermo, have said their investigation would take time, and would require the wreck to be salvaged from the sea. The Bayesian is currently lying on the seabed at a depth of around 50 metres.

Italian prosecutors are investigating two British crewmembers - ship engineer Tim Parker Eaton and sailor Matthew Griffith - for possible manslaughter and shipwreck charges, a source told Reuters.

The source said Mr Parker Eaton is suspected of having failed to protect the 56-metre-long yacht's engine room and operating systems. Mr Griffith was on watch duty on the night of the incident, the source added.

The boat’s 51-year-old captain James Cutfield, a New Zealander, has also been put under investigation for the same offences.

The investigation does not mean the crew members are guilty and does not mean formal charges will follow.

They were among 15 survivors of the sinking that killed seven people.

The crew was saved, except for the chef Canadian-Antiguan national Recaldo Thomas, while six passengers were trapped in the hull.

Mr Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, alongside Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer, his wife Judy Bloomer, Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda Morvillo died in the tragedy.

Hannah had recently finished her A-levels at west London’s Latymer Upper School and was due to study at Oxford University.

Their bodies were later recovered from the wreck following days of searching.

Mr Lynch founded software giant Autonomy in 1996, and was cleared in June of carrying out a massive fraud relating to its 11 billion dollar (£8.64billion) sale to US company Hewlett Packard, after a trial at a federal court in San Francisco, California.

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