Il tycoon Lynch e il naufragio

Chronicle

Bayesian, the captain leaves Italy. Three are under investigation for the shipwreck

Under the lens of the Termini Imerese Public Prosecutor's Office the responsibilities of Cutfield, an officer and a sailor of the vessel

by Silvia Pieraccini

28 August 2024Aggiornato il 29 agosto 2024, ore 14:00

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He left Italy on board a private flight reportedly bound for Spain James Cutfield, the captain of the sailing ship Bayesian which sank on 19 August off the coast of Palermo. The skipper, who is under investigation for manslaughter and multiple manslaughter, is reportedly heading to Majorca where he lives with his wife. Also with him would be Tim Parker Eaton, the engineer officer who is under investigation on the same charges, and other crew members. Instead, two of the ship's stewardesses left today for Istanbul. By the afternoon of Wednesday 28 August, other members of the Bayesian had left Italy, gone to Dubai, and the third suspect in the sinking, Matthew Griffiths, who was on watch on the bridge on the night of the storm and reached Nice.

If there was any negligence in the management of the sailing ship Bayesian, which sank during the night of the storm between 19 and 20 August near the Palermo coast (7 dead and 15 survivors) while at anchor, it was attributable to the crew, according to the public prosecutor's office of Termini Imerese, which has now investigated for manslaughter and multiple manslaughter - in addition to the captain James Cutfield - also the engineer officer Tim Parker Eaton and the sailor who was on watch that night on the bridge, Matthew Griffith, 22. This brings to three the number of warrants served by the magistrates on the crew (in total there were ten crew members, one died). The suspects have appointed defence attorneys, who will assist in future investigations.

However, many points remain to be clarified about the shipwreck of the 56-metre yacht, a jewel of the sea built by the Perini Navi shipyard and considered unsinkable, all the more so because of a whirlwind that only did damage to that boat. The accident claimed the lives of, among others, the British tycoon-owner Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter, while Lynch's wife, Angela Bacares, administrator of the company in whose name the yacht is registered, miraculously survived and has already given the magistrates her willingness to recover the wreck, which lies on the seabed at a depth of 49 metres, after having emptied the tanks containing 18,000 litres of diesel and oils.

Coast Guard divers are continuing to monitor the stretch of sea where the ship is located to report any fuel spills. In the meantime, yesterday the magistrates questioned for the third time Commander Cutfield, who, however, availed himself of the right not to answer. He did so for two reasons," Aldo Mordiglia, one of the defence attorneys, told Il Sole 24 Ore, "because he is understandably very tried and because we defence attorneys were only appointed yesterday and we need to acquire a series of data that we do not yet have in order to prepare a line of defence.

Lawyer Mordiglia, owner of the Genoese law firm of the same name, a leader in maritime law and the point of reference in Italy for the main P&I insurers (the third party liability policies taken out by shipowners), not only defends the captain of the Bayesian but also represents British Marine, the insurance company of the Qbe group with which the Lynch family took out the P&I which covers loss of life, consequences of accidents, crew and passenger repatriation costs, pollution risk and wreck removal.

Before the wreck of the Bayesian (which has an intact 75-metre mast and hull) can be brought back to the surface, the tanks will have to be emptied, as happened with the Costa Concordia that sank on a rock on the island of Giglio in January 2012 (in that case the tanks contained 2,400 tonnes of fuel). To carry out the operation an international tender will most likely be called to choose the specialised company, which will prepare a plan to be presented to the Harbour Master's Office to avoid environmental pollution. The next step will be the salvage of the wreck, which will also be useful for carrying out further investigations, also to be carried out according to a work plan to be approved by the maritime authorities. The mystery remains as to how the ship sank in 15 minutes: why the sailor on the bridge did not raise the alarm; why nine out of ten crew members were saved while six out of twelve passengers died; whether the side door of the ycaht had been left open; whether it flooded the engine room, which had also been left open; whether the accesses to the crew cabins and the wheelhouse had also been left open. A long list of actions, all to be verified to explain the most mysterious shipwreck in recent history.