Dead or on the lamb?

[guyfriday]

Just an update as of now;
Italian prosecutors open shipwreck and manslaughter investigation into Bayesian yacht sinking (nypost.com)

 Prosecutors in Italy confirmed Saturday they opened a shipwreck and manslaughter investigation into the deadly sinking of the Bayesian superyacht, which killed a British tech tycoon and his daughter.
 
“We are only in the initial phase of the investigation. We can’t exclude any sort of development at present,” Termini Imerese prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio said.
 
No suspect has been identified in the tragedy, which left seven people dead, Cartosio added. 
 
The probe will focus on how a vessel deemed “unsinkable” by its manufacturer, Italian shipyard Perini Navi, went under while a nearby sailboat remained largely unscathed.
 
There is no information yet about the ship’s black box — and authorities declined to comment on reports its hatches had been left open.
 
There was no timeframe on possibly resurfacing the yacht, authorities said.
 
News of the investigation came one day after divers retrieved the body of the last victim from the sunken wreck. 

So, we will know more soonish about this whole mess. I'm glad the foul-play angle isn't being dropped as just some "Conspiracy Theory" though.

[l0st]

I immediately thought foul play is involved. I guess one has to think that whenever such high profile players are involved.

Does anyone know who was captaining this yacht? How experienced were they?

Considering the circumstances, its definitely fishy. Anyone with enough money to own a yacht has enough money to "disappear" if they want to. With the murdered business partner I'd place that pretty high on my list.

[ArMaP]

Does anyone know who was captaining this yacht? How experienced were they?

James Cutfield, 51 years old, from North Shore, Auckland, New Zealand.

Apparently, he has been captain on luxury yachts for eight years and had previously worked on them in various locations around the Mediterranean.

[guyfriday]

The sinking reason seems to have changed from a tornado to a waterspout to possible manslaughter. This was from yesterday (August 23rd)
Bayesian yacht maker blames 'indescribable' crew errors (nypost.com)

The CEO of the company that built the $40 million yacht that sank off the coast of Sicily this week has blamed the crew for the tragedy — saying they had 16 minutes and could have easily saved the seven who died.
 
“The boat suffered a series of indescribable, unreasonable errors,” Giovanni Costantino, CEO of the Italian Sea Group, told Reuters of the Bayesian sinking Monday, killing seven of the 22 onboard.

Some points that the owner of the company that built the yacht, from the linked article;

 Costantino, whose company includes Perini Navi, the Italian high-end yacht maker that built the 183-foot superyacht in 2008, staunchly defended its construction — saying it had survived far more extreme storms during 22 years of trouble-free navigation.

He said the crew had a 16-minute window before the craft sank — plenty of time to get everyone to safety.
“The torture lasted 16 minutes,” he told the Financial Times.
“It went down, not in one minute as some scientists have said. It went down in 16 minutes. You can see it from the charts, from the AIS (Automatic Identification System) tracking chart,” he said.

Additionally, doors and hatches should have been closed, and the keel should have been lowered to increase stability, among other safety measures, Costantino said.
Had correct procedures been followed, all passengers would have gone back to sleep after one hour, “and the next morning they would have happily resumed their wonderful cruise,” he added.
“The captain should have prepared the boat and put it in a state of alert and of safety.”

He even states this tid-bit in the article,

“Ask yourself — why were none of the Porticello fishermen out that night? A fisherman checks the conditions and a ship doesn’t? The disturbance was completely readable on all the weather maps. It was impossible not to know,” he said.

Given that the Captain was used to operating this yacht, and had done so for 8 years, one has to wonder if he didn't get paid off to look the other way or even do the deed himself on this. I think the sale of Autonomy Corporation PLC to Hewlett-Packard might need a bit more digging into.

[l0st]

The sinking reason seems to have changed from a tornado to a waterspout to possible manslaughter. This was from yesterday (August 23rd)
Bayesian yacht maker blames 'indescribable' crew errors (nypost.com)

Some points that the owner of the company that built the yacht, from the linked article;


He even states this tid-bit in the article,

Given that the Captain was used to operating this yacht, and had done so for 8 years, one has to wonder if he didn't get paid off to look the other way or even do the deed himself on this. I think the sale of Autonomy Corporation PLC to Hewlett-Packard might need a bit more digging into.

Yeah, I'm pretty skeptical about the waterspout excuse. They were out on the sea where they could literally navigate in any direction to get away from it, but managed to take a direct hit? I'm not sure what the odds are on that, but they've gotta be about 1:1000000000. The failure to make proper preparations on the boat is also suspect. An 8 year captain should know better.

There's more to this story, especially if it took 16 minutes for the boat to sink. It will be interesting to see what the toxicology results are for the deceased.

[Encia22]

It will be interesting to see what the toxicology results are for the deceased.

Drunk as skunks and high as kites... maybe.

[l0st]

Drunk as skunks and high as kites... maybe.

Perhaps, but I'm thinking more along the lines of poisoning and a coverup for certain parties. This just doesn't happen. Being randomly hit by a tornado ("waterspout") out on the open water seems more than exceptionally rare to me. This yacht likely had at least two and maybe more full size, 1000hp+ diesel engines. Captain didn't see this coming? Nobody else on the yacht did either? I simply don't believe it. I know bullshit when I smell it. Unless there is radar evidence of a tornado developing directly next to the yacht over the course of a minute, leaving now time to react, I'm not buying it.

Add that to 16 minutes to sink? That's way more than enough time to put life preservers/survival suits on and to get into a lifeboat. IMHO the people who died on this expedition were already dead before the boat took on water.

[guyfriday]

IMHO the people who died on this expedition were already dead before the boat took on water.

The toxicology report will be very interesting if released to the public. I find it very strange that people would be found still in their cabins if they had 16 minutes to respond to the boat capsizing. If they were found in the salon or the lounge then maybe I would buy it, but this seems like the two were poisoned or drugged before the boat started to sink. 

One must now wonder if the sinking of the yacht was an attempt to cover up a double murder.

[ArMaP]

Perhaps, but I'm thinking more along the lines of poisoning and a coverup for certain parties. This just doesn't happen. Being randomly hit by a tornado ("waterspout") out on the open water seems more than exceptionally rare to me. This yacht likely had at least two and maybe more full size, 1000hp+ diesel engines. Captain didn't see this coming? Nobody else on the yacht did either? I simply don't believe it. I know bullshit when I smell it. Unless there is radar evidence of a tornado developing directly next to the yacht over the course of a minute, leaving now time to react, I'm not buying it.

They now say it was most likely a downburst, a sudden downward air current that sometimes appear below storm clouds. The Mediterranean is known for its sudden and strong storms, but this storm was expected.

Add that to 16 minutes to sink? That's way more than enough time to put life preservers/survival suits on and to get into a lifeboat. IMHO the people who died on this expedition were already dead before the boat took on water.

The 16 minutes were counted starting at the time we see the lights going down on the video posted by Encia22 and the time the GPS stopped working, which is assumed was the time it was already under water and uncapable of contacting the satellites.

The ship's black box would be a great help in solving this.

PS: regarding this being one or more homicides disguised as an accident, for that to be likely the killer(s) would need to know that the ship was going to be hit by a very strong storm, otherwise the sinking of the ship would look terribly suspicious. Even as things are it is suspicious, imagine if the weather wasn't as bad as it was.

[Encia22]

Yes, I agree, ArMaP. I find it difficult to accept that this was a conspiracy to eliminate Lynch & Co.

The waterspout was too localised and random to predict exactly where it would have passed. The other sailboat about 150m away was untouched.

If I had to plan something along those lines, I would have done it in the middle of the ocean. Wait until night, escape on the life boat and scuttle the ship with the passengers onboard. It would have been almost impossible to investigate.

I believe it was a very rare event, made worse by the crew not securing the vessel in time and the passengers remaining in their staterooms. When they tried to escape their mistake was in trying to find air pockets on the other side of the ship; possibly because there exit through the lounge area was already filled with water. The movie "The Poseidon Adventure" (1972) comes to mind.

Anyway, I found a great website that has the complete timeline of the saga and many titbits of information, including blueprints of the yacht (posted below), its different levels and room layouts.

https://www.superyachttimes.com/yacht-ne...en-missing