Mike Lynch yacht’s black field reveals remaining 16 minutes of hell earlier than ship sunk
Data retrieved from the black box of the luxury yacht Bayesian has provided a dramatic account of the final 16 minutes before it sank off the coast of Palermo, killing seven on board.
Divers pulled out 18 year old Hannah Lynch, daughter of tycoon Mike Lynch’s and the last victim of this maritime nightmare yesterday (Friday, August 24). She was found five days after disaster struck when the ship was caught in a storm near the Italian island Sicily.
According to Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, the black box revealed that the Bayesian began to shake “dangerously” at around 3.50am on Monday morning. Within minutes, the yacht’s anchor gave way.
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A source close to the investigation stated the data showed there was “no anchor left to hold,” by 3.59 am. After a storm tore through the Bayesian’s mooring, the yacht was dragged through the water for some 358 metres and started taking in water at 4am, reports the Express.
(Image: PA)
By 4.05am, the superyacht, carrying 22 passengers and crew, had completely disappeared under the water with six passengers and one crew still inside. A distress signal was finally emitted a minute later alerting the Coast Guard station nearest to Ponticello, the closest coastal town to where the ship vanished.
Witnesses initially reported seeing the Bayesian’s 246ft tall mast being struck by a “tornado,” which authorities later clarified had been a waterspout. Officials initially believed the incident had occurred around 5am but the AIS now appears to show it happened approximately an hour earlier, while anchored off the port of Porticello.
Eleven passengers escaped the doomed yacht by clambering into an inflatable life raft on the deck of the Bayesian. Another four were saved by a passing ship, the Sir Robert Baden Powell, which brought them safely to shore.
(Image: PA)
Divers have tragically recovered seven bodies from the wreck, including that of owner Mike Lynch and his 18 year old daughter Hannah. The moment the ship went down was also captured on CCTV.
Also among the deceased are Morgan Stanley International Bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer with his wife Judy, lawyers Clifford Chance and Chris Morvillo and his jewellery designer wife Nada, as well as chef Recaldo Thomas.
It appears the victims attempted to escape their cabins on the starboard side in a desperate effort to reach safety on the port side. An insider close to the investigation shared with an Italian news source: “We found them all on that side.”
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
The insider also revealed: “We had maps with the layout of the cabins and the positions of the guests, and that’s not where we recovered them.”
Rescue teams laboured for four days amidst the wreck, submerged 164 feet below the surface, to locate all the missing bodies.
Investigators are now primarily focused on understanding how the yacht, claimed to be “unsinkable” by its builders, the Italian shipyard Perini Navi, sank while another nearby sailboat was left virtually untouched.
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