The captain of a luxury yacht that sank near Sicily during a storm, leading to the deaths of British tech tycoon Mike Lynch among others, is being investigated by Italian authorities, according to a legal source who confirmed earlier reports from the Italian press. James Cutfield, a 51-year-old from New Zealand, is under probe for potential charges of manslaughter and shipwreck. However, being subject to investigation in Italy doesn’t infer guilt, neither does it automatically result in prosecution.
Before proceeding with autopsies on the deceased, it’s required that those under investigation are formally notified. The decision to investigate Cutfield emerges after a second round of questioning, however, Reuters has been unable to reach him for comment.
Whether other crew members or individuals will be under investigation alongside the captain remains uncertain. The yacht, named Bayesian and flying a British flag, was transporting 22 passengers when it failed to weather a pre-dawn storm and submerged off the coast of northern Sicily. Fifteen individuals, Lynch’s wife among them, successfully survived the incident. Lynch’s company held ownership of the Bayesian and his 18-year-old daughter, Hannah, sadly perished in the event.
While the yacht suffered a sudden meteorological incident, Ambrogio Cartosio, chief of the public prosecutor’s office of Termini Imerese, suggested Saturday that charges of multiple manslaughter and negligence causing a shipwreck might be plausible. Under maritime law, a captain holds complete command over the ship and its passengers. Thus far, neither Cutfield nor his eight surviving crew members have publicly addressed the tragedy.
The yacht was constructed to weather any conditions, as per Franco Romani, a nautical architect who contributed to designing the Bayesian, in an interview with La Stampa published on Monday. He speculated the yacht might have been swamped when a lateral hatch was inadvertently left open.