Mateo Brenninkmeijer, a fisherman in Porticello, was sitting on a bench overlooking the sea until midnight last Sunday. The heat was too intense to sleep, and he witnessed the first flashes of lightning that signaled an approaching storm. As the storm intensified, residents in the area were awakened by the sound of thunder and strong winds, with water even entering some houses.
At 4:15 am, Fabio Cefalù, a fisherman who had initially decided not to go out to sea that fateful Monday morning, changed his mind upon seeing a distress flare and discovered only floating cushions and wooden planks where a luxury super yacht, the Bayesian, had sunk just a few hundred meters away.
In a tragic turn of events, all but seven of the 22 passengers on board the Bayesian managed to scramble into a life raft before the yacht capsized. Among those who perished were prominent individuals such as tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, his daughter Hannah, and other passengers including the president of Morgan Stanley and the yacht’s chef.
The sinking of the super yacht in a 16-minute window of disaster shocked the world and prompted investigations into potential manslaughter and negligent shipwreck. British marine investigators have joined Italian officials in determining the cause of the tragedy, with early assessments pointing towards extreme weather conditions such as a powerful downburst.
The conduct of the yacht’s captain, James Cutfield, has come under scrutiny as experts question the decisions made leading up to the disaster. The failure to close openings, deploy the keel, and take necessary precautions in the face of the impending storm are believed to have contributed to the swift sinking of the Bayesian.
Rescue efforts have been hampered by the depth at which the yacht now lies, with divers facing challenging conditions to recover the bodies trapped inside. The decision to salvage the wreckage may provide crucial insights into the sequence of events that led to the tragic loss of life on that ill-fated voyage.