Bayesian, sailor's testimony: 'I woke up the captain in 20-knot winds'

"I woke up the captain when the wind was at 20 knots. He gave orders to wake everyone else. I then put away the cushions and plants, closed the bow saloon windows and some hatches." In the delicate jigsaw puzzle of the tragedy of the Bayesian, the sailing ship that sank on 19 August in the sea of Porticello, near Palermo, a new testimony has emerged: that of Matthew Griffiths, the sailor who, according to Ansa, was on watch in the ship's bridge on the night of the storm. Griffiths, defended by lawyers Mario Scopesi and Corrado Bregante who are also assisting the engineer officer Tim Parker Eaton, was heard as an informed person of the facts. The sailor would not talk about the hatches, which were not his responsibility.

"The ship tilted and we were thrown into the water. Then we managed to climb back in and tried to rescue those we could,' recounted Griffiths, whois being investigated for multiple manslaughter and manslaughter shipwreck along with the ship's captain, James Cutfield, and engineer officer Tim Parker Eaton. 'The boat was tilted,' the sailor explained, 'and we were walking on the sides. We saved who we could, even Cutfield saved the little girl and her mother".

Griffiths' testimony is in addition to other accounts gathered by the magistrates, including the two-hour account of Rosalia Orlando, a shipyard owner who witnessed the tragedy on the night of the shipwreck, in which seven people died, including British tycoon Mike Lynch.

The woman, in an interview published on Saturday 31 August by Corriere della Sera, had told of seeing the boat swaying during the storm, being pulled by the anchor ploughing, on the bottom and the sail flapping. This testimony was considered important by the investigators, who summoned her to elaborate on her words. The investigators want to ascertain whether the sail had not been lowered perfectly, aggravating the ship's instability. Orlando also said that she had pointed out to the Coast Guard the wrong choice of place to drop anchor. The businesswoman was reportedly told that it was a crew decision.

Also today, the first examinations began on four of the seven bodies of the Bayesian victims. The team of anatomo-pathologists from the Institute of Forensic Medicine at the polyclinic in Palermo, coordinated by Antonina Argo, have started to perform CT scans on the bodies, and only on Monday will the autopsies begin. The first four victims examined are those of Morgan Stanley international president Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judith, and American lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Nada. On Monday, examinations were scheduled on Bloomer and his wife; on Tuesday, it will be the turn of the Morvillo couple, the lawyer Christopher and his wife Neda.