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With the Bayesian lying on her side 50 metres underneath the now gentle waters of the Mediterranean, mystery still surrounds how the 56-metre superyacht, sank in the typhoon off the port of Porticello.<\/p>\n
Remotely controlled underwater vehicles and cave divers are looking to raise the yacht, which experts will examine in the coming days. For now, the focus is on finding the final sixth passenger since the yacht went down in the early hours of Monday 19 August. <\/p>\n
Four bodies were recovered from the vessel on Wednesday, with the fifth brought to shore on Thursday morning. They have now been identified as British tech tycoon Mike Lynch, Morgan Stanley chairman Jonathan Bloomer, his wife Judith Bloomer, lawyer Christopher Morvillo and his wife Neda Morvillo. <\/p>\n
Mike Lynch is among those confirmed as dead (PA Archive)Mr Lynch\u2019s 18-year-old daughter remains unaccounted for, with divers returning to the site to continue searching the sunken boat. <\/p>\n
It will take weeks for Ambrogio Cartosio, the chief prosecutor of Termini Imerese, and his team to establish whether the sinking of the Bayesian was down to human error, an unpredictable weather event or whether anyone is liable.<\/p>\n
They have said they will interview the survivors in the coming days \u2013 some of whom were pictured leaving the Domina Zagarella hotel in Santa Flavia, which has become the headquarters for survivors, police and rescuers.<\/p>\n
Many questions face the investigators:<\/p>\n
Were access hatches left open?<\/p>\n
One expert at the scene in Sicily said an early focus of the investigation would be on whether the yacht\u2019s crew had failed to close access hatches before the tornado struck.<\/p>\n
Yachting experts have suggested that the hatches being open could have allowed the Bayesian to fill with water quickly and sink.<\/p>\n
But Andrea Ratti, a nautical design professor at Polytechnic University of Milan, said a boat the size of the Bayesian could only sink so rapidly by taking in a huge amount of water.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne can make plausible assumptions that leave room for doubt,\u201d he said, before suggesting that one or more portholes, windows or other openings may have been broken or smashed open by the waterspout.<\/p>\n
Was the boat prepared for a storm?<\/p>\n
Prosecutors will look at whether appropriate measures were taken in preparation for the storm.<\/p>\n
The luxury superyacht called \u2018The Bayesian\u2019 off Porticello, Palermo (BAIA Santa Nicolicchia\/AFP via G)The yacht\u2019s captain, James Catfield, from New Zealand, told Italian media of the suddenness of the waterspout that turned a luxury super yacht into a death trap. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe just didn\u2019t see it coming,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Luca Mercalli, the president of the Italian Meteorological Society, said on Tuesday that the crew should have made sure that all the guests were awake and given them lifejackets in light of the forecasted heavy rains.<\/p>\n
The coast guard said bad weather had been forecast, but added that it was more virulent than expected. Some locals spoke of a waterspout, or sea whirlwind, of exceptional force. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a strange thing,\u201d fisherman Andrea Carini said. The Bayesian was at anchor, its sails down, when the tempest hit, with another yacht moored nearby.<\/p>\n
A nearby yacht, the 42-metre Sir Robert Baden Powell, remained anchored and weathered the storm after its captain turned on the engine to keep control of the vessel and avoid a collision with the Bayesian.<\/p>\n
Moment Bayesian yacht is engulfed by storm (Giornale di Sicilia \/ Reuters)The captain, Karsten Borner, said he did not know whether the crew of the Bayesian had managed to switch on its engines. <\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think they did things wrong, I think they were surprised by the power of the storm,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI only know that they went flat with the mast on the water and that they sank in two minutes,\u201d he said, adding that the storm was \u201cvery violent, very intense\u201d, bringing in \u201ca lot of water and I think a turning system like a tornado\u201d.<\/p>\n
Did the world\u2019s largest aluminium mast have anything to do with the sinking?<\/p>\n
The Bayesian has one of the largest masts in the world (EPA)The Bayesian was built by Italian shipbuilder Perini in 2008 with a 75m (246ft) mast which it claims is the tallest aluminium mast in the world.<\/p>\n
Scott Painter, who took over Lynch\u2019s multi-billion dollar software company called Autonomy, founded in 1996, said Lynch\u2019s yacht may have been more vulnerable due to the mast.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe mast was the ultimate sailor\u2019s bragging right,\u201d Painter told the outlet. \u201cThat mast must\u2019ve been over 240 feet tall, which is either the tallest or second tallest in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cThat could certainly contribute to a capsize as it would destabilize the yacht. And if it were to lean over too far, it could absolutely capsize the yacht.\u201d<\/p>\n
Captain Borner said: \u201cIf the mast had been broken they wouldn\u2019t have capsized.\u201d<\/p>\n
Would a lightning shock wave damage the mast?<\/p>\n
Colonel Attilio Di Diodato, director of the Italian Air Force\u2019s Center for Aerospace Meteorology and Climatology, said the agency had registered intense lightning activity and strong gusts of wind in the area.<\/p>\n
The Bayesian had one of the tallest aluminium masts in the world, according to its builder, Perini Navi. <\/p>\n
\u201cHaving a tall aluminium mast would not make it the safest port to be in case of a storm,\u201d said Andrea Ratti, associate professor of nautical design and architecture technology told the Politecnico di Milano. <\/p>\n
The type of intensity unleashed by a violent lightning storm \u201ccould have created a significant shock wave\u201d, he added.<\/p>\n
Was the Bayesian keel retractable and was it down?<\/p>\n
The Bayesian had a retractable keel, a fin-like apparatus under the hull that helps stabilise boats and acts as a counterweight to the mast. It is not known whether it was down at the time of the vicious storm.<\/p>\n
Both Ratti and Mattioni questioned whether the yacht had been anchored with the keel up, reducing the vessel\u2019s depth under water and making it less stable. Ratti said strong winds might have caused the boat to start oscillating wildly, \u201clike a pendulum\u201d, putting exceptional strain on the mast.<\/p>\n
Divers have only ten minutes to investigate boat (Vigili del Fuoco\/AFP via Getty I)Was the the Bayesian properly anchored?<\/p>\n
Tom Sharpe, a retired Royal Navy commander and defence commentator, told CBC News that a mast the size of the Bayesian\u2019s is designed for a massive sail, and without that sail raised and catching the wind, the gusts likely would\u2019ve had a negligible impact on the aluminum pole.<\/p>\n
He instead suggested the anchor may have played a pivotal role.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy kind of working assumption is that she was probably a bit further in at anchor, and it\u2019s very likely, in these sort of conditions, that her anchor dragged,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He added the 10-strong crew was better off steering toward the anchor to stabilise the yacht or even raising the anchor and steering into the open Meditteranean to ride out the storm.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey might have got caught in that middle ground where they\u2019re not on a particularly good anchorage but the anchor is now controlling the bow of the ship\u201d, he posted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the worldSign up to our free Morning Headlines email With the Bayesian lying on her side 50 metres underneath the now gentle waters of the Mediterranean, mystery still surrounds how the 56-metre superyacht, sank in the typhoon off the port of Porticello. Remotely […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3549,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[173],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n