Palermo shipwreck, Hannah Lynch's body found. Family thanks Italian authorities. Chain of possible human error investigated

Meanwhile, the investigation by the Procura di Termini Imerese (Palermo), led by Ambrogio Cartosio, to shed light on the shipwreck that occurred at dawn on Monday, continues at a relentless pace. Prosecutors are investigating for shipwreck and multiple culpable homicide, at the moment against unknown persons. Under investigation by the prosecutors are videos and photographs taken on the night of the storm by some of the inhabitants of the area, but also surveillance cameras, in particular from a boatyard, which pointed its camera right at the boat, and from a private villa. The Coast Guard, in recent days, visited all private houses and public places with surveillance cameras pointed right at the sea.

The hypothesis on which investigators are focusing is that of a presumed chain of human errors that would have caused the sinking of the sailing ship. There are a number of technical aspects that are being investigated by cave divers, but also the images taken by Rov, the underwater robot already used in other disasters such as that of the Atr of the Tunisian company Tuninter that ended up in the sea off the coast of Capo Gallo on 6 August 2005.

The movable centreboard, partially raised, may have played a decisive role in the reduced stability of the hull and the consequent rapid sinking of the ship, along with some open hatches that would have taken in a large mass of water in a short time. And again, the engines turned off and the failure of the system that would have sealed the hatches and accesses of the ship. Decisive answers could also come from the recovery of the vessel and the black box.

However, it remains to be seen how it was possible for a 56-metre boat, equipped with all the most sophisticated technology and radar equipment, to go down in a matter of minutes, as evidenced by the many videos captured by investigators from homes and a sailing club in the area.

The images show the boat sinking within minutes under the stormy sea. In recent days, the 15 survivors of the shipwreck, all guests at the Hotel Domina in Santa Flavia (Palermo), have been heard by investigators. But no one was heard accompanied by a lawyer. Therefore, so far, as qualified sources confirm, no names have been entered in the register of suspects.

As well as the 15 people who managed to save themselves by jumping into the sea, some of the other seven people on board the Bayesian who were later found missing - six of whom were recovered dead by divers - tried to get out of the sinking ship, but were overwhelmed by the water that entered the hull and did not make it. The detail emerges from the positions and places where the bodies were found by the divers operating at a depth of 50 metres; they were in the area of the ship and in cabins different from those indicated by the survivors in their testimonies collected by the harbour master's office and the fire brigade, which went with a map of the yacht to the Domina-Zagarella hotel to get an indication of the cabins occupied by the missing.

According to the technicians involved in reconstructing what happened it is possible that the boat sank from the bow. Then it would have slowly capsized on its right side. This, too, would emerge from testimonies. And in the area of the bow were the crew's rooms.

The body of Mike Lynch, which was recovered today, was found near the aft cabin; the body was recognised by his wife, Angela Baccares, who survived the shipwreck. The woman arrived in a dark car on the Porticello quay.

The situation is in flux and the first warrants may be issued. Starting with the captain of the boat, James Cutfield, a New Zealander.  He was questioned at length two days ago. Investigators asked him what had happened at dawn on Monday, moment by moment. The sailor reiterated that it 'all happened in a matter of minutes' and that he would not have noticed the storm coming.

The fire brigade's sea rescue unit today is made up of 27 divers, including 11 speleo and 8 DNO qualified divers who use decompression mixtures that allow them to stay deeper underwater. This was announced by the Palermo Fire Brigade.

Yesterday, technicians from the Arpa Sicilia conducted water monitoring in the area of the Bayesian yacht wreck, in Porticello, in support of the Coast Guard, to assess the presence ofany pollutants. The analytical results of the water will be available in a few days. The request for monitoring came from the coordination table on the shipwreck. Arpa technicians carried out the surveys on board a Coast Guard patrol boat.

The six bodies recovered after the shipwreck of the sailing ship are in the cold storage rooms of the cemetery of the Rotoli in Palermo and of the Institute of Forensic Medicine of the Policlinico of Palermo. They will all be transferred in the next few days to the Institute of Forensic Medicine at the Policlinico di Palermo to perform autopsies that, at the moment, have not yet been arranged pending the discovery of the last missing person.

Mike Lynch wanted to sell the superyacht but changed his mind after his acquittal in the US in June in the criminal fraud trial over the acquisition of his multinational Autonomy by US giant Hp. This was reported by the Daily Telegraph, citing sources in the nautical industry, according to which the tycoon had put the superyacht on the market in March this year only to change his mind last month. The intention was to spend the summer aboard the yacht and then reconsider the decision to sell it in the autumn.

"The 'specific reasons of public interest', which the Riforma Cartabia speaks of with regard to the reasons that justify the dissemination of news by the Public Prosecutor's Office, would have suggested, if not imposed, that from the very first hours following the sinking of the Bayesian yacht an official information be provided, not reticent or non-existent, on an investigation concerning facts of public relevance and global interest. Instead, in spite of the importance of the fact, its peculiarity and seriousness, the nationalities, calibre and background of the people involved, official information, from a public source, was completely absent'.

This is what the Ordine dei Giornalisti complains about in a note in which it emphasises that 'journalists from all over the world who are dealing with the sinking of the Bayesian have to contend with the lack of feedback and the absence of institutional interlocutors, none of whom are authorised by the Termini Imerese prosecutor - who is in charge of the investigation and also of relations with the press - to have relations with the Italian and foreign media'.

All this, continues the SB, 'while having the utmost respect for the figure of the prosecutor, as a person and as a representative of the State, is not acceptable, because it means depriving information of official, certain and reliable channels. This situation in fact creates distorting mechanisms, i.e. what has been called a 'black market in news', making source verification, the genuineness of information and the already difficult work of reporters almost impossible. Foreign colleagues, informed by their own embassies, are then paradoxically facilitated. In this climate, the 'armour-plating' imposed on the survivors by a (private and foreign) security company appears almost 'normal''.

The executive of the National Council of the Order of Journalists therefore invites 'the Termini prosecutor to take the path of dialogue with reporters. It also urges, for the umpteenth time, the powers of the State - executive, legislative and judiciary - to clarify, each within its own sphere of competence, once and for all the criteria and procedures for applying the Cartabia law, avoiding individual and often singular interpretations, or, failing that, to review the content of a law that, in a case like the Bayesian one, is highlighting, and worldwide, its own enormous and inconceivable limits".