Mike Lynch’s yacht sinks: Witness blames “extreme mast”
An eyewitness to the sinking of British technology entrepreneur Mike Lynch’s yacht on Monday attributed the tragedy to the extremely high mast, which made the vessel more vulnerable to the violent storm raging in the region.
Dutch ship captain Karsten Börner, whose own boat was near Lynch’s Bayesiansaid the Financial Times that the superyacht apparently had stability problems.
“The centre of gravity is too high on this extreme mast,” he explained, rejecting the Italian coast guard’s initial view that the Bayesian was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“I was in the same place,” added Börner. “I have two masts and they are 28 and 29 meters above deck, she has one, 73 meters (239.5 feet) above deck.”
Authorities are currently investigating the possible reasons for the rapid sinking of Lynch’s yacht, while other boats nearby apparently survived the same storm without any problems.
The 56-meter-long superyacht had 22 passengers and crew on board. Börner rescued 15 passengers and said they told him the ship sank in less than two minutes.
He also described the wind as “tremendous, very strong” and said the FT that wind speeds probably reached hurricane force as “tons of water” came down.
“I’ve never seen anything like it, there was a water tornado,” he said.
The CEO of the Italian Sea Group, which owns the company that Bayesianpreviously told the FT that the ship was designed for stability despite its high mast and that the crew had not taken adequate safety precautions.
But Börner said the crew told him they had “closed the ship,” so FT.
The Italian Sea Group did not immediately respond to Fortunes Asked for a comment on Börner’s statements and declined to comment to the FT.
Meanwhile, prosecutors in Italy have launched an investigation into the shipwreck and have filed several charges of intentional killing, which amount to manslaughter.
The Italian coast guard also confirmed on Friday that it had recovered the body of Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter Hannah. In addition to Lynch and his daughter, other victims include Morgan Stanley International chairman Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy Bloomer, Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife, American jewelry designer Neda Morvillo, and chef Recaldo Thomas.
On Saturday, Italian prosecutors told reporters that the emergency began at 4:38 a.m. local time, when a red flare was fired and seen by the coast guard, adding that the passengers were likely asleep at the time.
Deputy prosecutor Raffaele Cammarano told reporters that a crew member was on duty as required when the “really sudden” storm hit.
Chief Prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio Ship tracking data showed that the yacht began drifting from anchor shortly before 4 a.m. and then drifted about 360 meters within five minutes to where it finally sank about 15 minutes later.
