The captain of a super yacht that underwent a shipwreck in Sicily last week killing seven people, including the owner of the yacht, British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, is now under investigation.
James Cutfield, 51, is being investigated for manslaughter and shipwreck, according to reports by local Italian news outlets. Charges have not officially been filed against him for the accident involving the 184-foot luxury yacht, named the Bayesian. However, investigators decided to look into Cutfield after interrogating him for a second time in a week, Italian news agency Ansa reports.
A total of 22 people were on board the luxury yacht when the incident occurred, 15 of whom were rescued after the deadly wreck Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter, Hannah Lynch, along with Morgan Stanley International chairman Jonathan Bloomer, Jonathan’s wife Judith Bloomer, lawyer Christopher Morvillo, Christopher’s wife Neda Morvillo, and Recaldo Thomas, a chef on the Bayesian, were also killed. Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, survived.
It took authorities days to locate the bodies of the deceased, but they confirmed that most of the dead were found in the same part of the ship, indicating they have been trapped, according to investigators.
Officers initially thought the shipwreck was caused by the ship being struck by a tornado. But Termini Imerese prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio said that investigations indicated that the accident occurred rather quickly after the yacht was impacted by a downburst, a powerful downdraft from a thunderstorm. Notably, however, a nearby sailboat was largely unharmed by the same downburst.
“For me, it is probable that offenses were committed, that it could be a case of manslaughter, but we can only establish that if you give us the time to investigate,” Cartosio previously said.
It’s unclear if other crew members are under investigation for the incident.
Lynch had been celebrating his acquittal from fraud charges with family and those who defended him during the trial when tragedy struck.