A former captain has described the terrifying obstacles facing those trapped in the cabins as the Bayesian superyacht overturned killing seven.
Stephen Edwards, who captained the Bayesian for five years until 2020, told The Telegraph: “Those who stayed curled up in bed were in the worst situation.
“The storm hit hard, placing them in the melee of flying furniture, glass and other items,” he said adding he had spoken to traumatised crew members.
“Inside the cabins, the only way to think of this is that people were lying in their beds one minute, and the next the room was on its side, totally dark, with the door now either in the floor or in the ceiling above.”
It came as divers race to retrieve Mike Lynch’s personal hard drives locked in a safe on the ocean floor, according to reports.
Italian newspaper la Repubblica reported that the tech billionaire, whose clients included MI5, the NSA and the Israeli secret service, didn’t trust confidential documents on the cloud and kept two encrypted hard drives in a safe which now lies 49 metres below sea level.
Former captain describes horror of those trapped in cabins
Italian navy recover video equipment
Two encrypted hard drives of Mike Lynch remain 49m underwater locked in safe – report
Professor fears more deaths by ‘medicanes’ after Bayesian tragedy
Mike Lynch’s yacht was ‘unsinkable’, says boss of company who built boat
Seven key unanswered questions around the sinking of the Bayesian
Wednesday 18 September 2024 15:38 , Barney Davis
Divers are searching the sea floor for Mike Lynch’s high-tech hard drives before they can fall into enemy hands reports La Repubblica – Italy’s second-biggest newspaper.
Sources told the paper the disks held: “the great digital archive of the IT entrepreneur whose clients included the British MI5, the American NSA and the Israeli services”.
The Italian newspaper said the “super drives” are protected by “cutting-edge encryption”.
The Sun reported the drives now could be a target for the hostile spy agencies of Russia, China, and Iran as they seek to steal valuable secrets.
Wednesday 18 September 2024 14:38 , Barney Davis
Captain James Cutfield previously gave his terrifying account before invoking his right to remain silent.
According to Correire, he told prosecutors: “Seaman Griffiths came to wake me up and told me that there were 20 knots of wind.
“I looked at the instruments and indeed that was the case. I went out immediately and asked them to warn everyone because I didn’t like the situation.”
He said the Bayesian tilted 45 degrees “and remained like that for a bit and then suddenly fell to the right.
“We were catapulted into the sea”.
Seaman Matthew Griffiths, 22, said: “We somehow climbed back up to the bridge and tried to form a human chain to save those who managed to reach that gap from the accommodation deck … they were struggling on the walls because the boat was lying in the water.
“The first in the chain was the captain who stretched down. He helped everyone, the ladies, the mother with the little girl … But we were sinking and unfortunately some didn’t make it .”
Mr Griffiths joins fellow Brit Tim Parker-Eaton, 56, and Kiwi skipper James Cutfield, 51, on the official list of those being formally investigated for shipwreck and multiple manslaughter.
Being investigated does not equate to being charged and is a procedural step.
Wednesday 18 September 2024 13:30 , Barney Davis
Italian Navy divers have recovered video surveillance equipment from the wreckage of billionaire Mike Lynch’s Bayesian superyacht that could explain how it sank.
The British tech tycoon’s boat had been moored near the port of Porticello on 19 August when it sank during the early hours of the morning. It is now lying 50m below the surface.
Jabed Ahmed reports:
Divers hunting for clues on how Mike Lynch’s superyacht sank make discovery
Wednesday 18 September 2024 12:30 , Barney Davis
The wife of Mike Lynch, 57-year-old Angela Bacares managed to escape to safety after suffering cuts from broken glass as she went to try and save her husband and daughter, according to la Repubblica.
The newspaper said she told doctors that at 4am, the boat had tilted and she and her husband were woken up.
Former captain Stephen Edwards told The Telegraph, Ms Bacares “always wants to know what is happening and what the crew are doing”.
“She is always the first person to come up to the bridge if she hears us scuttling about up there. That could explain why she was saved and Mike wasn’t.”
Wednesday 18 September 2024 12:02 , Barney Davis
Family friends of Mike and Hannah Lynch have said the father and daughter were part of a “united, vibrant, loving family” – with the teenager remembered as a “diamond in a sea of stars” and the tech mogul as a brilliant storyteller.
Mr Lynch was the creator of software giant Autonomy and had been cleared in June of carrying out a massive fraud related to its 11 billion dollar (£8.64 billion) sale to US company Hewlett Packard.
His daughter Hannah had recently finished her A-levels and was due to study at Oxford University.
Sasha Murray, chief stewardess of the Bayesian, said: “Those who knew her will know that Hannah was a diamond in a sea of stars. Bright, beautiful and always shining.
“What most people may not have seen was the extraordinarily strong, deep and loving relationship she shared with her parents, whom she adored more than anything.
“While swimming with them she often said, if anything ever happened she would save them.
“I have no doubt that the Irish, Latina fire that burns in her soul kept that spirited determination alive.”
It is understood Ms Murray was rescued after disaster struck the yacht.
Wednesday 18 September 2024 11:30 , Barney Davis
With the Bayesian lying on her side 50 metres underneath the now gentle waters of the Mediterranean, mystery still surrounds how the 56-metre superyacht, sank in the typhoon off the port of Porticello.
Remotely controlled underwater vehicles and cave divers are looking to raise the yacht, which experts will examine in the coming days.
The key unanswered questions around the tragic sinking of the Bayesian
Wednesday 18 September 2024 11:14 , Barney Davis
Mike Lynch was frequently described as the Bill Gates of Britain for founding Autonomy – one of the biggest software firms on the planet
Mike Lynch net worth: How the billionaire made his money
Wednesday 18 September 2024 10:14 , Barney Davis
Stephen Edwards, who captained the Bayesian for five years until 2020, told the Telegraph that he had spoken to crew members onboard during the sinking who recounted the horrors facing those onboard.
He said: “The storm hit hard, placing them in the melee of flying furniture, glass and other items.
“Some had made it to the saloon at this point and they are the ones who survived, as their route outside would have been a little clearer.
“Inside the cabins, the only way to think of this is that people were lying in their beds one minute, and the next the room was on its side, totally dark, with the door now either in the floor or in the ceiling above.
“Cabinets crashed open as the catches were weak, resulting in glassware and crockery falling out. I’m told almost all the furniture broke loose inside the boat.”
Mike Lynch’s wife, along with 14 others, survived and were rescued by a nearby vessel that was unscathed.
Wednesday 18 September 2024 09:00 , Barney Davis
Italian Navy divers have recovered video surveillance equipment from the wreckage of billionaire Mike Lynch’s Bayesian superyacht that could explain how it sank.
The British tech tycoon’s boat had been moored near the port of Porticello on 19 August when it sank during the early hours of the morning. It is now lying 50m below the surface.
Among those killed were Mr Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, who had been due to begin studying at Oxford University in September, as well as four other family friends and associates.
Divers hunting for clues on how Mike Lynch’s superyacht sank make discovery
Wednesday 18 September 2024 07:00 , Barney Davis
Prosecutors are investigating the captain, New Zealander James Cutfield, and two crew members for possible responsibility in connection with the sinking.
Mr Cutfield is under investigation for possible manslaughter and culpable shipwreck charges. Tim Parker Eaton — the engineer who was in charge of securing the yacht’s engine room — and sailor Matthew Griffith — who was on watch duty on the night of the disaster — are now under investigation for the same possible charges, their lawyer said.
Chief prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio, who is heading the investigation, has said his team will consider each possible element of responsibility including those of the captain, the crew, individuals in charge of supervision and the yacht’s manufacturer.
Investigators are focusing on how a sailing vessel deemed “unsinkable” by its manufacturer, Italian shipyard Perini Navi, sank while a nearby sailboat remained largely unscathed. They added raising the Bayesian and examining the yacht for evidence would provide key elements to the investigation.
Maritime director of western Sicily, Rear Admiral Raffaele Macauda of the coastguard, could not confirm how long it would take to retrieve the shipwreck of the sunken yacht, adding recovering the fuel tanks was a “priority for us because it has environmental knock-on effects”.
Wednesday 18 September 2024 04:47 , Barney Davis
Specialist military divers are currently searching the sunken Bayesian yacht for clues as to why it sunk in a freak storm off the coast of Siciliy, killing seven passengers.
British tech tycoon Mike Lynch’s boat had been moored near the port of Porticello on 19 August when it sank during the early hours of the morning, and is now lying 50 metres below the surface of the water.
About six divers from the Italian navy’s Comsubin unit are investigating the superyacht for electronic equipment, which includes data storage and CCTV and to see if doors were left open during the storm.
Holly Evans reports:
Special forces divers and robots search Mike Lynch’s sunken Bayesian yacht for clues
Wednesday 18 September 2024 00:47 , Barney Davis
Italian authorities said the first post-mortem examinations on the victims had been carried out on US lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda. The results confirmed that the pair had drowned.
Morvillo was a partner at Clifford Chance, a white-collar law firm. He previously worked as a federal prosecutor who investigated the September 11 terror attacks, according to the New York Post.
Tuesday 17 September 2024 22:47 , Barney Davis
Navy divers recovered hard drives of the video surveillance system on board the Bayesian hopefully revealing the final moments before the tragic sinking of the superyacht.
In the engine room there were the hard disks that catalogued the parameters regarding the electric and thermal propulsion.
“We hope to be able to read something from the media”, an investigator told La Repubblica. They added “Unfortunately they are standard models that are not resistant to water and pressure”.
There was no black box on board the 700-tonne sailing vessel that sank in minutes. It was not required to have one, as it was not a commercial cruise ship.
Tuesday 17 September 2024 18:47 , Barney Davis
Autopsies have been carried out on a couple who drowned on Mike Lynch’s superyacht when it sank off the coast of Sicily last month.
Seven lives were lost when the British-flagged boat, called the Bayesian, went down in a freak storm while anchored near the Sicilian capital of Palermo on 19 August.
Autopsies reveal cause of death of US lawyer and wife onboard Mike Lynch’s superyacht
Tuesday 17 September 2024 16:45 , Barney Davis
Darktrace shares are set to stop trading publicly at the end of September, after the company set a timetable for its blockbuster private equity takeover to be completed.
The private equity group Thoma Bravo struck an almost 5.31 billion dollar (£4.3 billion) deal to buy Darktrace in April.
Darktrace AI interrupts in-progress cyber-attacks in seconds, including ransomware, email phishing, and threats to cloud environments.
It marks one of the biggest take-private deals for a London-listed company in recent years, and will see Darktrace leave the FTSE 100 on October 1.
Poppy Gustafsson helped to set up the Cambridge-based company in 2013 alongside Autonomy founder Mike Lynch.
Mr Lynch, and his daughter Hannah, were among seven people to die after the Bayesian superyacht sank off the coast of Sicily last month.
Tuesday 17 September 2024 15:44 , Barney Davis
The bodies of Mike Lynch, his daughter Hannah, 18, and the other victims of the Bayesian disaster have been flown back to their families after their post-mortems, according to reports.
They were repatriated on private planes, with their private funerals expected to be held over the coming days, Italian media reports.
The British tech tycoon’s boat had been moored near the port of Porticello on 19 August when it sank during the early hours of the morning. It is now lying 50m below the surface.
Among those killed were Mr Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, who had been due to begin studying at Oxford University in September, as well as four other family friends and associates.
Jonathan Bloomer, the international chairman of Morgan Stanley Bank; his wife Judith, a psychotherapist; Christopher Morvillo, a US lawyer; and his wife Neda, a jewellery designer also died in the sinking.
Also killed was the yacht’s chef, Recaldo Thomas, whose body was recovered floating near the wreckage.
Tuesday 17 September 2024 14:44 , Barney Davis
Tech billionaire Mike Lynch, his daughter Hannah, 18, and five other people died when the Bayesian went down in a downburst, which is similar to a small tornado.
Chef Recaldo Thomas, Jonathan Bloomer, the Morgan Stanley International bank chairman, his wife Judy, and Chris Morvillo, a Clifford Chance lawyer, and his wife Neda, were the other victims of the August 19 tragedy.
Four of the victims are feared to have suffocated to death in air bubbles that filled with carbon dioxide, according to their autopsies raising the frightening possibility that they may have been conscious after the yacht sank, according to Italian news outlet La Republica.
Fifteen people, including Angela Bacares, Lynch’s wife, survived when they were rescued by a nearby yacht.
