TERMINI IMERSE, Italy — Prosecutors said there “could be a question of manslaughter” as they opened an investigation into the deaths of seven people after a superyacht sank while anchored off the Sicilian coast Monday.
Speaking at a press conference, prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio said the investigation is not currently directed at any individuals, and is “hypothesizing the crime of culpable shipwreck and multiple manslaughter.”
“But we are only at an early stage,” Cartosio said. “Developments in the investigation could be of any kind, and we are not ruling anything out.”
Twenty-two people were onboard the 180-foot Bayesian when a sudden and violent storm struck struck before dawn on Monday, Aug. 19. Divers embarked on a challenging rescue operation, recovering seven bodies from the wreckage.
There were 15 survivors, including all but one of the ship’s crew.
Cartosio said that the sinking could be caused by “behaviors that were not in order.”
Taking questions from reporters, prosecutors asked about the crew’s responsibilities said they were “concentrating on this particular aspect,” adding they wanted to “discover how much they knew and to what extent all the people were warned.”
They said that the passengers who died were probably asleep, and that this is the reason they failed to escape.
Prosecutors also confirmed that the captain of the Bayesian will undergo more questioning. New Zealander James Cutfield has already been questioned for more than two hours, and prosecutors said he had been “extremely cooperative.”
Bad weather was also forecast ahead of the sinking, and questions about the weather were also raised by journalists.
“Apart from extreme events which are being verified by the prosecutor, there was a great deal of visibility,” an official said according to a translation by Sky News, NBC’s UK partner network.
Based on forecasts from midnight to 4am, he added that “there wasn’t anything to suggest there could be an extreme situation arising.”
The body of British tech magnate Mike Lynch was among those recovered from the wreck. His 18-year-old daughter, Hannah, was the last to be found after the five-day rescue operation.
Prosecutors said that autopsies had not yet been done.
The family had been celebrating his recent acquittal on fraud charges in the United States, along with others, including lawyers who defended him at the trial.
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