Second-in-command of Bayesian yacht placed under investigation by police

 ROME -- Sicilian police have reportedly placed three crew members of the sunken Bayesian under formal investigation, including the second-in-command Tijs Koopman, as authorities try to understand how the luxury yacht sank, Il Fatto Quotidiano has reported on Wednesday. The captain, James Cutfield, was interviewed again by police on Tuesday but exercised his right to not respond to questions, Giovanni Rizzuti, Cutfield’s lawyer, has confirmed.

 Termini Imerese’s public prosecutor's office has opened a formal investigation into manslaughter and negligent shipwreck after the Bayesian sunk off the coast of Palermo last week, killing seven people. Cutfield was placed under formal investigation on Monday and has now been joined by Koopman, as well as engineer officer Tim Parker Eaton, 56, and seaman Matthew Griffiths, 22, Il Fatto Quotidiano has reported.

 British entrepreneur Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah were among seven victims of the sinking, found last week by rescue divers after extensive search operations. The disaster also killed Morgan Stanley International Chair Jonathan Bloomer.

 Cutfield, 51, was questioned again by police on Tuesday but did not respond to police interrogations. The New Zealand national is being represented by lawyers Aldo Mordiglia and Rizzuti, who confirmed Cutfield did not answer police questions.

 “The captain exercised his right to not respond for two reasons,” Rizzuti is reported as saying in Il Fatto Quotidiano. “Firstly, because he was very tired. Secondly, we were called up yesterday [to represent Cutfield] and to articulate a complete and accurate defence we need to establish a series of facts that, at the moment, we don’t have.”

 Italia media has drawn comparisons between the sinking of the Bayesian and the Costa Concordia disaster in 2012, when the captain, Francesco Schettino, abandoned the ship when it capsized off the island of Giglio, killing 32 people. Schettino was later sentenced in 2015 on counts of manslaughter, negligent shipwreck, and abandoning ship.

 Cutfield was seen leaving police interrogations in tears on Tuesday and is reportedly waiting for his passport to be handed back to him before leaving Sicily. The captain has not been ordered by authorities to remain in Italy.

 Other crew members were questioned on Monday, with interview transcripts translated from English into Italian before being analysed by Sicilian authorities. Sasha Murray, 29, Katja Chichen, 23, and Leah Randall, 19, were working as hostesses when the yacht sank but have reportedly been told they can leave the Domina Zagarella resort where they were being held.

 But Koopman, along with Cutfield, could be questioned again as police ascertain how the sinking unfolded. On Monday, it was reported investigators were keen to understand the positioning of the yacht’s keel and whether the side door was open or shut. If the door was open, it would explain why a boat considered to be unsinkable took in so much water when it capsized.

 Investigators are now looking to understand why the yacht sank when other boats in the near vicinity in the Porticello harbour did not, and why passengers did not receive any alarm in the 16-minute period from when the yacht was hit by the waterspout to when it sank to 49 metres.

 A team of divers returned to the site of the sinking on Tuesday morning at the request of the public prosecutor’s office, with concerns an 18-litre tank of fuel could cause a chemical spill. Vincenzo Pepe, president of the environmental organisation FareAmbiente, insisted everything should be done to prevent a chemical spill.

 “Recovering the wreckage of the Bayesian should be a priority, not only to see if there was any human error but also to avoid any chemical spill, and therefore the environmental pollution which would be a further environmental damage.”

 Emptying the fuel tank remains the priority for divers, who will then look to stabilise the wreckage of the Bayesian. The wreckage could eventually be removed from the sea bed, but any operation could take weeks and would require the permission of Italian authorities.

 bq