Five bodies were found Wednesday inside the Bayesian, the superyacht that sank off the coast of Porticiello near Palermo on Monday morning. Divers have now recovered three of the bodies. The two men and one woman have been taken to a morgue to be identified.The sex of the other two bodies is not yet known.Only one body is still missing.
British tech tycoon Mike Lynch and Morgan Stanley International Chairman Jonathan Bloomer are among six missing passengers.
The other missing passengers are Bloomer's wife Anne Elizabeth Judith Bloomer, Lynch's 18-year-old daughter Hannah, Lynch's lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Nada Morvillo.
The Bayesian, with 22 people on board, sank after a tornado hit the area.
Coast guards rescued 15 passengers but seven others were reported missing, including one person whose body was recovered later on Monday morning after firefighter divers reached the boat located at a depth of some 50 metres, half a mile from the coast. The victim was later identified as Ricardo Thomas, who worked on board as chef.
Meanwhile Bayesian captain James Catfield, 51, was questioned by Termini Imerese prosecutors for two hours, ANSA learned on Wednesday.
State attorneys in Termini Imerese, who have opened an investigation into the accident, questioned the expert skipper on Tuesday night to learn more about technical details that could prove useful to understand what caused the sailboat to sink in just a few minutes, according to sources close to the investigation.
Magistrates on Wednesday also questioned the other shipwreck survivors at the Domina-Zagarella resort where they are staying.According to an expert engineer at Italian Sea Group - the company that owns Perini Navi, the shipyard in Viareggio that in 2008 launched the Bayesian - who spoke on condition of anonymity and expressing a personal opinion, several mistakes could have been committed ahead of the accident.
Potential mistakes include the fact that the boat's engines were off and that passengers were allowed to remain in their cabins during the storm.
“Basic security protocols provide for always having someone on guard duty during a storm, including when a boat is at anchor."Moreover, even if the tornado was about to hit, there was all the time necessary to make it to safety, just 15 minutes would have been necessary to activate all security measures”, the engineer said.
Operations continued throughout the day to search for the missing passengers with expert teams of divers, as well as ships and helicopters, coordinated by Palermo coast guards and aided by coast guard divers from Naples and Messina.
Search operations also include divers who took part in the mission following the deadly shipwreck of the Concordia, the cruise ship that sank in the night between January 13 and 14, 2012 killing 33 people. The divers are using a ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) during their search missions.The "robot" is able to operate at a depth of up to 300 metres under water and has an autonomy of six to seven hours.
Due to the depth at which the wreckage sits, over 50 metres, divers can only spend up to 12 minutes to search the boat before they need to resurface.
A video of the accident shows the boat apparently sinking in just 60 seconds.
Former British minister Lord Deben said Wednesday that Lynch had been "set to start again" after getting through his 12-year legal ordeal, the end of which he was celebrating with friends and family on the yacht.
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