Italian Prosecutors Expand Their Investigation Into SuperyachtSinking

Two more members of the crew of the superyacht Bayesian, which sank off the coast of Sicily last week and killed seven people, have been placed under investigation by Italian authorities according to their attorney.

The action broadens the inquiry into the shipwreck, for which James Cutfield, a New Zealander, the captain of the ship, is already being looked into for potential homicide and culpable shipwreck charges.

According to their attorney, Tim Parker Eaton, the engineer in charge of guarding the yacht’s engine room, and Matthew Griffith, a sailor on watch duty the night of the accident, have been the subject of an inquiry since Wednesday for similar potential charges.

Since the investigation has just recently begun, the scope of their potential obligations is still unknown, attorney Mario Scopesi told The Associated Press.

He also mentioned that Cutfield and the rest of the crew departed Italy on Wednesday, along with Parker Eaton and Griffith. The August 19 disaster that claimed the lives of British tech magnate Mike Lynch, his daughter Hannah, and five other people left 15 survivors, including the three crew members.

The investigation’s chief prosecutor, Ambrogio Cartosio, has stated that his team will take into account every potential factor of accountability, including those of the captain, the crew, those in charge of supervision, and the yacht’s manufacturer. In the Mediterranean, the 56-meter luxury yacht known as the Bayesian, flying the British flag, capsized close to Sicily.

Investigators are concentrating on how a neighboring sailboat survived relatively unharmed while a sailing vessel that was declared “unsinkable” by its maker, the Italian shipyard Perini Navi, perished.

The incident was described by the prosecution as “extremely rapid” and might have been a “downburst,” which is a strong, localized wind that emerges from a thunderstorm and spreads out quickly upon contact with the ground. Six passengers were trapped in the yacht’s hull and perished, but the remaining crew members, including the cook, all escaped.