'A hatch left open' Human error must be cause of sinking, says boss of boat builder

The superyacht that capsized off the coast of Sicily this month, in which the British tech magnate Mike Lynch and six others died, could only have sunk because of human error, according to the chief executive of the company that owns the vessel's manufacturer.

- Lorenzo Tondo

It is thought that the Bayesian was struck by a downburst - a gusty wind associated with storms - causing the vessel to capsize and sink within minutes. The victims included Lynch and his 18-yearold daughter, Hannah. Fifteen people survived, including Lynch's wife, whose company owned the Bayesian.

Giovanni Costantino, the chief executive of the Italian Sea Group, which owns the Bayesian's manufacturer, Perini Navi, said: "The first thought when I read the news of the sinking was that there was a problem related to the management of the boat or the fact that the hull may have hit a rock.

"But when the passengers declared they had not heard a loud noise on board, which would have meant that the yacht had struck a reef, I realised the yacht had taken on water due to a hatch that was left open. Otherwise the Bayesian cannot sink." Italian prosecutors have placed three crew members under investigation for manslaughter and shipwreck, including the captain of the yacht, James Cutfield, 51, from New Zealand. Being investigated in Italy does not imply guilt and does not mean formal charges will follow.

The yacht was built by Perini in 2008, and named Salute. Lynch acquired it in 2014 and changed the name to Bayesian, after the 18th-century mathematician Thomas Bayes, whose work on probability informed Lynch's professional thinking.