Mike Lynch's superyacht knocked over by 'extreme wind', report says

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1The owner and crew of a luxury superyacht that sank off the coast of Sicily, killing tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch and six others, were unaware wind speeds of over 73mph could tip it over, according to an interim report.

2Modelling commissioned after the disaster indicates gusts of that speed hitting the side of the Bayesian, when it had its sails down and centreboard up, would "likely result" in its capsize.

3The UK's Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB), leading the international investigation, said winds of over 80mph "violently" hit the vessel, causing it to flood within seconds.

4It sank near the town Porticello on 19 August last year during freak weather, with reports of water spouts.

5Seven of the 22 people onboard were killed, including Mr Lynch, 59, and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah.

6Investigators say the yacht was knocked to a 90-degree angle within 15 seconds at 04:06 am local time, causing people, furniture and loose items to fall across the deck.

7"There was no indication of flooding inside Bayesian until water came in over the starboard rails and, within seconds, entered the internal spaces down the stairwells," the report says.

8The MAIB's chief inspector of marine accidents Andrew Moll said the situation was "irrecoverable" once the yacht tilted beyond 70 degrees.

9The yacht had its sails down and centreboard up when it sank.

10The MAIB commissioned modelling from the University of Southampton to examine the stability of the yacht in these conditions.

11It indicated that - if the wind was blowing directly across the beam, or side, of the boat - wind speeds in excess of 73mph were sufficient to tip the boat over and "it is possible" the yacht was similarly vulnerable to lower wind speeds, the MAIB said.

12But this information was not included in the onboard stability information book and "consequently, these vulnerabilities were also unknown to either the owner or the crew of Bayesian", the report found.

13The MAIB is investigating the incident as the Bayesian was registered in the UK. 14No date has been set for when its final report will be published.

15It said its report was based on "a limited amount of verified evidence" as a criminal investigation by Italian authorities has restricted access to the wreck.

16An operation to raise the 56-metre vessel from the seabed was paused over the weekend after a diver died while working on the wreck. 17Work was set to resume on Thursday.

18The report lays out more detail as to how the sinking unfolded.

19Investigators say the yacht sailed to the site where it sank on the previous day, in order to "shelter" from forecast thunderstorms. 20The sails were furled at the time.

21Wind speed was "no more than eight knots (9mph)" at 03:00 - about an hour before the incident. 22Some 55 minutes later it had increased to 30 knots (34.5mph), and it had accelerated to 70 knots (80.6mph) by 04:06 when the yacht capsized.

23As the storm intensified, several crew members were working in response to the conditions. 24The deck hand went onto the deck to close the yacht's windows.

25Five people were injured "either by falling or from things falling on them" and the deck hand was "thrown into the sea", the report says.

26Two of the yacht's guests used furniture drawers "as an improvised ladder" to escape their cabin, it adds.

27Dr Simon Boxall, Oceanographer at the University of Southampton, said the Bayesian was in "the wrong place at the wrong time".

28"The priorities for the crew would have been to shut the hatches and the doors, which they did," he told the BBC.

29This means speculation about water flooding in because everything was open is "obviously not the case".

30"The next priority would have been to start the engines - so they would have some manoeuvrability to position themselves within a storm - and to then lift anchor, which the crew did, but this takes time," he added.

31"It's not like a car where you jump in and turn the key. 32It would take 5 or 10 minutes before you can start the engines with a vessel of this size."

33Survivors escaped on the Bayesian's life raft and were rescued by a small boat dispatched from another nearby yacht, the report says.

34Mike Lynch was a prominent figure in the UK tech industry, where his backing of successful companies led to him being dubbed the British equivalent of Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

35But the latter years of his life were consumed by a long-running legal dispute which resulted in him being controversially extradited to the US.

36Inquest proceedings in the UK are looking at the deaths of Mr Lynch and his daughter, as well as Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer and his wife, Judy Bloomer, who were all British nationals.

37US lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda Morvillo also died in the sinking, along with Canadian-Antiguan national Recaldo Thomas, who was working as the yacht's chef.

38Fifteen people managed to escape on a lifeboat, including Mr Lynch's wife, Angela Bacares.

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from BBC