Investigation into ‘open hatches’ on doomed superyacht

New theory on how Mike Lynch’s vessel took on water so quickly as specialist divers called in to hunt for survivors

Italian authorities are investigating whether hatches left open by crew members caused Mike Lynch’s superyacht to sink.
On Tuesday night, specialist cave divers were continuing to search for six missing passengers, including the tech entrepreneur and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, as the Bayesian lay intact on its starboard side, 165ft underwater on the seabed.
It has been suggested that the missing could still be alive, trapped in pockets of air within the yacht, but hopes were fading fast as the search progressed during its second day.
Prosecutors in the nearby town of Termini Imerese have opened an investigation into the disaster and will seek to establish what caused the boat to sink and if any of the crew are criminally liable.
One expert at the scene in Sicily told Reuters that an early focus of the investigation, which is expected to last months, would be on whether the yacht’s crew had failed to close access hatches into the vessel before the tornado struck.
Yachting experts have suggested that the hatches being open could have allowed the Bayesian to fill with water quickly and sink.
Prosecutors will also look at whether appropriate measures were taken in preparation for the storm, such as use of the yacht’s retractable keel, which adds extra stability and acts as a counterweight to the large mast.
On Tuesday, Luca Mercalli, the president of the Italian Meteorological Society, also said that, in light of the weather warnings, the yacht’s crew should have woken the guests and given them life jackets.
 Ambrogio Cartosio, the chief prosecutor of Termini Imerese, and assistant prosecutors must determine what went wrong and whether the sinking of the Bayesian was down to human error or simply a freak weather event.
He and his team are expected to begin by interviewing the 15 survivors as well as gathering evidence from emergency workers and divers from the coast guard and the national fire service.
The UK’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch, which has sent investigators to the scene, is also expected to support the prosecutor’s inquiries.
Teams of specialist divers, including some who took part in the Costa Concordia recovery, have been continuing to search for six missing passengers who had gathered on the boat to celebrate Mr Lynch’s acquittal in a fraud trial.
Mr Lynch, his daughter Hannah, Jonathan Bloomer, the Morgan Stanley International bank chairman, and his wife, Judy, Chris Morvillo, a lawyer at Clifford Chance, and his wife, Neda, are still missing.
Sam Jefferson, editor of the magazine Sailing Today, suggested that there may have been enough hatch doors open to cause the vessel to sink.
He said: “I would have said that the boat g`ot hit very hard by the wind, it was pinned over on its side.
“I imagine all the doors were open because it was hot, so there were enough hatches and doors open that it filled with water very quickly and sank like that.
“The reason it got pinned over so hard was because the mast is huge.”
Andrea Ratti, a nautical design professor at Milan Polytechnic University, said a boat the size of the Bayesian, a British-flagged 56-metre superyacht, could only sink so rapidly by taking in a huge amount of water, as CCTV emerged capturing the moment it was battered during the ferocious storm.
“One can make plausible assumptions that leave room for doubt” about what happened, he said, suggesting that one or more portholes, windows or other openings may have been broken or smashed open by the waterspout, letting in water.
Divers at the scene have suggested that the Bayesian, named after the mathematical theory Mr Lynch had used to make his fortune, has no signs of impact.
The divers, who can only stay at the depth of the wreck for a maximum of 12 minutes, are struggling to access the yacht because of its narrow stairs and furnishings.
Marco Tilotta, inspector of Palermo’s firefighters diving unit, told Italian media it had been difficult to get inside and search “centimetre per centimetre”.
Nick Sloane, who worked on the Costa Concordia salvage operation, said rescue divers were entering a “critical” 24 hours for anybody still be alive in air pockets.
“They’ve got a very small window of time to try to find people stuck inside with hopefully an air pocket, and they could be rescued,” he said.
“You’ve got a maximum of two to three days to try to get someone out, so the next 24 hours are critical.”
He told Sky News: “If the yacht is on its side, it might have more air pockets than if it’s upright. She’s got quite a large keel, and that will deflect and put her on her side, I’m sure.”
The captain of the Costa Concordia, an Italian cruise ship, was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2015, after being accused of taking the liner too close to the shore.
On Tuesday, tributes were paid to Recaldo Thomas, the chef onboard, who was confirmed as the body recovered near the superyacht.
Eli Fuller, a friend of Mr Thomas, told the BBC: “He knew everybody and was friends with everybody. He’d always ask how you were doing, how your family was – he was always positive.
“Personality was very important in his job. The world’s richest people want to hang out with someone social. He was sought after.”