Italian prosecutors investigate the sinking of Lynch's yacht, attracting attention due to numerous doubts

On August 24, 2024, Italian prosecutors officially began an investigation into the sinking of the "Bayes," a yacht on which British well-known software technology entrepreneur Mike Lynch was aboard. In the early morning of the 19th, this luxury yacht sank in the waters near Sicily in southern Italy. As of the 23rd, the identities of all seven victims have been fully confirmed.

Ambrogio Cartocci, the prosecutor of the Termini Imerese area, said at a press conference that the current investigation direction is that someone is suspected of negligent ship sinking and multiple counts of negligent homicide, but no specific suspect has been targeted for the time being. Another prosecutor, Raffaele Camarano, said that the investigation is still in its initial stage and "absolutely no possibility is excluded."

In this accident, there were 10 crew members and 12 passengers on the yacht. Fifteen people were rescued. The victims included the yacht's chef, Lynch and his daughter, as well as the couple of Lynch's friend and lawyer Chris Morvillo and the couple of banker Jonathan Blumer. Lynch is 59 years old and is known as the "British version of Bill Gates." He was just acquitted in June this year. This yacht trip was originally to celebrate the acquittal, but unexpectedly a tragedy occurred.

According to media reports, 15 survivors including Lynch's wife and the captain of the "Bayes" have been questioned in the investigation, but no one has made a public statement. The prosecutors hope they will cooperate with the investigation, although according to Italian law they are not obligated to stay in Italy.

The "Bayes" is about 56 meters long. It was manufactured in 2008 and renovated in 2020. It has extremely high safety performance. Raffaele Macauda, the captain of the Palermo Coast Guard, said that the yacht was not banned from going to sea on the day of the accident because meteorological agencies did not warn that such a violent storm might occur in the sea area where the accident occurred. However, some maritime experts question that it is unlikely that the yacht would sink so quickly due to a storm of this intensity. Giovanni Costantino, the head of the Italian Sea Group, the parent company of the shipbuilding enterprise, said that there are no design defects and quality problems with the "Bayes," and attributed the sinking to a series of "unreasonable" human operations. At present, there are many doubts in this case. The investigation by Italian prosecutors is still ongoing, and the international community is also closely following its progress.