Authorities open manslaughter probe into superyacht sinking

(PALERMO, Sicily) — Authorities investigating the sinking of a superyacht off the Sicilian coast that claimed the lives of seven people said a manslaughter probe has been launched in the case.

“We have opened a file against unknown persons with the hypothesis of negligent shipwreck manslaughter,” Ambrogio Cartosio, the chief prosecutor of the Sicilian town Termini Imerese, said Saturday at a press conference.

Cartosio added, “We are taking care to keep the investigation secret as this is the law.”

The prosecutor said the ship’s captain, who survived the sinking, is not currently detained but asked that he remain available in Sicily so the prosecutors can speak to him again.

Investigators also revealed that it’s believed the ship was hit by a downburst – a powerful wind system originating from a thunderstorm that can reach 100 kilometers (62 miles) per hour — and not a waterspout, as authorities and some experts had previously thought.

The news conference came a day after the body of the last missing passenger — Hannah Lynch, the 18-year-old daughter of British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch — was recovered Friday from the hull of the ship. The body of Mike Lynch, who owned the yacht, was recovered Thursday.

The other victims, according to Italian news agency Adnkronos, are Jonathan Bloomer, the president of Morgan Stanley International; his wife Anne Elizabeth; American lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Nada, all found within the sunken yacht. The body of the yacht’s cook, Recaldo Thomas, was found on Monday morning underwater near the hull but not in it, according to authorities. An official list of the survivors and victims of the tragedy has not been released.

Divers conducted a difficult and dangerous recovery operation for five days in the yacht to locate and retrieve the missing passengers.

Fifteen people who had been onboard the yacht when the downburst struck — believed to be all members of the crew and the captain of the yacht plus five passengers — were rescued alive in the immediate aftermath of the sinking early Monday which occurred around half a mile from the fishing village of Porticello, close to the city of Palermo.