Sicily yacht tragedy: Bayesian captain set to face manslaughter investigation

The captain of the Bayesian superyacht is to be investigated for multiple manslaughter and shipwreck after seven people died when the vessel sunk last week, according to Italian media reports.

Italian prosecutors are expected to name 51-year-old James Cutfield, a New Zealand citizen, on Monday or Tuesday before launching an investigation, the Adnkronos news agency reported.

Such an investigation would not imply guilt or any certainty that formal charges will follow. Under maritime law, a captain has absolute responsibility for the ship, its crew and the safety of everyone on board.

The Ansa agency reported that the captain was heard by magistrates for two hours on Sunday. Newspaper La Republica suggested prosecutors could investigate another surviving crew member who was on duty at the time of the incident.

The news comes after Ambrogio Cartosio, head of the public prosecutor’s office in Termini Imerese, Sicily, said on Saturday that his office had opened an initial investigation into manslaughter and negligent shipwreck.

The 184-ft long Bayesian – deemed “unsinkable” by its manufacturer, Italian shipyard Perini Navi – capsized off Palermo, the capital of Sicily, during a storm early last Monday while carrying 22 people.

UK tech mogul Mike Lynch, his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, Morgan Stanley International chairman Jonathan Bloomer, his wife Judy, Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo, his wife Neda, and Recaldo Thomas, a chef on the vessel, all died in the incident.

The trip was reportedly organised to celebrate Lynch’s acquittal in June following a more than decade-long legal battle over the sale of his software company Autonomy to Hewlett Packard in 2011.

Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, survived the wreck alongside 14 others – including Cutfield and eight other crew members.

Prosecutors in Termini Imerese have declined to comment on Cutfield, while none of the surviving crew members have commented on the investigation. Cutfield told Italian media last week that he “did not see” the storm coming.

All the surviving crew are understood to be remaining at the Hotel Domina Zagarella in Sicily for questioning, while the rescued passengers, all British, have left the country after speaking to authorities.

Italian authorities said five of the bodies were found together in the first cabin on the left side of the yacht and that the sixth – Hannah Lynch – was found alone in the third cabin on the left, with the victims believed to have been trying to escape the water as the vessel sunk to its right.

Prosecutors have said the sinking was “extremely rapid” and could have been caused by a “downburst” – a powerful, localised gusty wind that descends from a thunderstorm.