Survivors of the Basian yacht, which sank off the coast of Sicily, are staying in a seaside hotel and paying high bar bills as they try to come to terms with the tragedy, according to local reports.
Nine crew members have survived a disaster when a $40 million superyacht owned by British tech tycoon Mike Lynch sank within minutes in a freak storm.
“The survivors were partying with young people,” a local site reported. Dillinger News “Sources say he spends as much as 2,500 euros a day just on alcohol,” the Italian newspaper reported, citing a hotel employee.
The crew is staying in a four-star hotel. Domina Zagarella Hotel The incident took place in the town of Santa Flavia in the Palermo city district while Italian investigators work out what happened.
Hotel staff confirmed to The Washington Post that the crew had been staying there but declined to comment further. It was not clear from the report which members of the crew were allegedly hanging out at the bar.
The crew: Civil ProtectionItaly's disaster relief agency has issued statements to authorities since the tragedy.
Three of the crew members – Captain James Cutfield, ship's engineer Tim Parker Eaton and seaman Matthew Griffiths – were announced as targets of investigation, though Italian authorities clarified that the step was a procedural one and did not indicate any wrongdoing.
Authorities named the remaining crew as first mate Tijjs Koopmans from the Netherlands, deckhand Tun Min Kyaw from Burma, chief stewardess Sasha Murray, 29, from Ireland, junior hostess Katja Chichen from Germany, a third stewardess, Leah Randall, from South Africa, and seaman Leo Eppel, 19, from either Spain or South Africa.
Italian prosecutors are investigating Cutfield, 51, on suspicion of manslaughter and culpable homicide after his yacht sank on August 19.
Cutfield, a New Zealand national, was questioned for a third time on Tuesday, according to his lawyer.
According to court reports, prosecutors questioned whether the tender door separating the tender room from the engine room was opened, the position of the movable centreboard and the exact time of the events that took place.
Cutfield refused to answer questions from the prosecution.
“The captain exercised his right to remain silent for two fundamental reasons,” Giovanni Rizzuti, one of Cutfield's lawyers, told media after the hearing.
“Firstly, he is very tired. Secondly, we were only appointed on Monday and in order to provide a thorough and accurate defense we need to have a body of data that we don't have at this point.”
At the time of the sinking, British national Parker Eaton was in charge of ensuring the safety of the engine room and managing the operational systems.
Griffiths is thought to have dual British and French nationality and is said to have been on lookout duty at the time of the sinking. According to the BBCNeither has yet to appear in court.
Prosecutors have already said the investigation will take time as work is still needed to salvage the sunken ship from the sea.
The Washington Post was unable to reach Revtom, the company that owns Bayesian, for comment on the story.
The sinking has baffled naval experts, who say the vessel, built by Italian luxury yacht maker Perini, was supposed to be able to withstand the storm.
Prosecutors said the event was “extremely rapid” and may have been a “downburst” – a localized, powerful wind that falls from a thunderstorm and spreads quickly when it hits the ground.
“I would say it was definitely a downburst, or what they call a microburst,” Peter Lake, a veteran yacht racing champion from Marblehead, Massachusetts, told The Post.
“This was one of the most powerful weather forces and we believe the ship was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Italian side is trying to investigate whether there was any negligence on the part of the crew in not taking precautions.”
“But either way, what happened for Mike Lynch and the others who were trapped in the shed was a nightmare. The water was coming in at an incredible rate and they had no way to get out.”
There were 22 passengers and crew on board the sailing vessel when it sank.
Those on board were there to celebrate Lynch's recent acquittal in a major US fraud trial.
Shortly after the Baysian sank, the body of the ship's chef, Ricardo Tomas, was discovered.
Others who died trapped in the hull included Lynch and his daughter, Manhattan lawyer Christopher Morbillo and his wife, Neda, and Morgan Stanley executive Jonathan Bloomer and his wife, Judy.
