Superyacht ‘Bayesian’: British luxury yacht that sank in storm lifted off Sicilian coast; probe underway
A British-flagged luxury yacht that sank off the coast of Sicily, Italy last year killing UK tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch and six others was lifted out of the water on Saturday. Crews completed a complex recovery operation so that investigators can examine the vessel.The 56-meter (184-foot) yacht, named Bayesian was covered in algae and mud as it was raised by a large yellow floating crane near the port of Porticello in northern Sicily.“The body of the superyacht Bayesian has been successfully and safely recovered from the sea,” said TMC Maritime, the company in charge of conducting the recovery. They added that the yacht will remain suspended for checks before being moved to the port of Termini Imerese on Sunday.Once at the port, the yacht will be placed on a special steel cradle for investigators to examine it. They will further determine the cause behind its sinkage.The Bayesian sank on August 19 during a violent storm. Lynch was celebrating being cleared of fraud charges in the US with his friends. His daughter and five others also died. Fifteen people survived, including the captain and all crew members except the chef.Italian authorities are conducting a criminal investigation.Over the past three days, the yacht was slowly lifted from the seabed, 50 meters (165 feet) below. Eight steel straps were used to raise the yacht and seawater was pumped out of the body during the process.According to a British investigation, the yacht was hit by extreme winds of over 70 knots (81 mph), causing it to tilt 90 degrees in under 15 seconds. The crew had stopped at the location believing it would provide shelter from the storm.Mike Lynch, who made his fortune by selling his software company Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard for $11 billion in 2011, had been buried from the charges by a federal court jury in San Francisco just two months before the accident.
