The Italian Government has commenced an investigation on the captain of the superyacht that sank off Sicily, resulting in the death of seven people, including British tech entrepreneur, mike lynch.
James Cutfield, a 51-year-old New Zealand national, is being investigated for manslaughter and shipwreck by the Italian government.
The decision to investigate the captain was made after Cutfield was interrogated by security agencies for a second time, to ascertain his innocence.
Being placed under investigation in Italy does not imply guilt nor necessarily mean formal charges will follow, but to get more details on what transpired before and after the accident.
Notices to individuals under investigation need to be sent out before authorities can conduct autopsies of victims’ bodies.
However, whether other crew members and individuals will also be investigated alongside the captain remains unclear.
The British-flagged Bayesian, a 56-metre-long (184-foot) yacht, was carrying 22 people when it capsized and sank on Monday within minutes of being hit by a pre-dawn storm while anchored off northern Sicily.
No fewer than 15 people survived, including Lynch’s wife, whose company owned the Bayesian. Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter, Hannah, was among those who died.
The head of the public prosecutor’s office of Termini Imerese, Ambrogio Cartosio, alleged that it was plausible that crimes of multiple manslaughter may have been committed due to the captain’s negligence which resulted in the shipwreck.
“The Bayesian was built to go to sea in any weather”, Franco Romani, a nautical architect who was part of the team that designed it told daily La Stampa in an interview published on Monday.
It will be recalled that Maritime law gives the captain full responsibility for the ship, crew, and all on board.
Cutfield and his eight surviving crew members have made no public comment yet on the disaster.
