Sicily yacht tragedy: Crew member tells of being thrown into water in efforts to rescue passengers

A crew member on Mike Lynch’s yacht has spoken of being thrown into the water and efforts to rescue passengers as a storm sank the vessel off Sicily this month, in a disaster that killed the British tech tycoon and six other people.

According to comments reported by Italian news agency Ansa, Matthew Griffiths, who was on watch duty on the night of the tragedy, told investigators that the crew members did everything they could to save those on board the Bayesian.

Griffiths, the boat’s captain James Cutfield, and ship engineer Tim Parker Eaton have been placed under investigation by the Italian authorities for potential manslaughter and shipwreck. Being investigated does not imply guilt and does not mean formal charges will follow.

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”I woke up the captain when the wind was at 20 knots (23 mph/37 kph). He gave orders to wake everyone else,” Ansa quoted Griffiths as saying.

”The ship tilted and we were thrown into the water. Then we managed to get back up and tried to rescue those we could,” he added, describing the events of the early hours of Aug. 19, when the Bayesian had been anchored off the Sicilian port of Porticello.

”We were walking on the walls (of the boat). We saved who we could, Cutfield also saved the little girl and her mother,” he said, referring to passenger Charlotte Golunski and her one-year-old daughter. In all there were 15 survivors of the wreck.

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Cutfield exercised his right to remain silent when questioned by prosecutors on Tuesday, his lawyers said, saying he was ”worn out” and that they needed more time to build a defence case. Parker Eaton has not commented on the investigation.

Prosecutor Raffaele Cammarano said last week that the vessel was most likely hit by a ”downburst”, a very strong downward wind.

However, the sinking has puzzled naval marine experts, who said a vessel like the Bayesian, built by Italian high-end yacht manufacturer Perini, should have withstood the storm and, in any case, should not have sunk as quickly as it did.

Prosecutors in the town of Termini Imerese, near Palermo, have said their investigation will take time, with the wreck yet to be salvaged from the sea.