Yacht overwhelmed by tornado, doubts and clues about the shipwreck –

They didn’t stop for a moment. One dive after another with the goal of continuing indefinitely until all six missing people were recovered. In the end, the firefighters’ cave divers managed to find an opening in the yacht that sank half a mile from Porticello and rested at about 50 meters deep, bent 90 degrees, tilted to the starboard side, on the right side, but intact, with the 75-meter aluminum mast still attached to the boat. The divers entered through a thick glass window that they tore off, located on some common areas, in the area opposite the cabins. They had to make room for themselves among the water and piles of furniture: it’s an important start that will allow them to continue the checks and searches.

THE VIDEO: THE BAYESIAN SWALLOWED BY THE SEA IN 60 SECONDS A video, recorded by the video surveillance cameras of a villa, immortalizes the Bayesian, flying the British flag, in the most dramatic phase: it is illuminated and you can see the lights, then it disappears in sixty seconds, swallowed up by the sea. This was also acquired by the Termini Imerese prosecutor’s office. In order to try to understand the situation, the investigators led by the prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio decided to personally interview the survivors. A necessary requirement to allow those who must return to their country of origin to leave Sicily and Italy.

THE PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE DECIDES TO HEAR THE SURVIVORS But the investigation is at the beginning and the timing is not predictable, even in the future, with the recovery of the bodies of the missing and the execution – almost certain – of the autopsies. In this case, since these are unrepeatable acts, the way the Termitana prosecutor’s office is moving will allow us to understand whether the investigator is focusing on the exceptional nature of an adverse and completely unpredictable atmospheric event or on human error, which could also consist in not having foreseen or not having been able to deal with a situation that, although certainly complicated, did not cause any damage to the sailing ship that was moored a short distance from the Bayesian, the Sir Robert Baden Powell, from which in fact the very first rescue operations for the shipwrecked departed. A series of videos are flowing into the investigation, acquired and filmed by the surveillance cameras of villas, hotels, private homes, shops that had their lenses pointed at the Porticello roadstead in the very early hours of yesterday morning. All the testimonies speak of a sinking that occurred in a few minutes: and this is confirmed by the video – which is said to be quite clear – of a villa that stands on the roadstead of Porticello, the seaside hamlet of the Municipality of Santa Flavia (Palermo) where the maritime disaster occurred.

PARTY FOR THE ABSOLUTION The toll at the moment is one confirmed dead: the Canadian-Antiguan chef Recaldo Thomas; among the six missing are the president of Morgan Stanley International, Jonathan Bloomer, and his wife, Judy; the lawyer Chris Morvillo, of the law firm Clifford Chance, together with his wife Neda Morvillo, an American jewelry designer. They were guests of the British businessman Mike Lynch, the British Bill Gates, who also disappeared together with his eighteen-year-old daughter Hannah Lynch; a trip wanted by the computer magnate to celebrate the acquittal in the US fraud trial on the sale of Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard.

THE HEADQUARTERS The central location for investigators and rescuers is the Domina Zagarella resort in Santa Flavia, which overlooks the Porticello sea. The 15 survivors are hosted here, including Angela Bacares, to whom the company that owns the sailing ship refers, wife of Mike Lynch. “She is no longer in a wheelchair, but you can see that she is understandably unwell and in shock and very tired,” say some tourists present in the facility. There is a lot of solidarity in the hotel: employees and tourists support and assist the shipwrecked, meeting their needs, also respecting their desire for privacy and tranquility. The ambassador of Great Britain to Italy, Edward Llewellyn, met them. Psychologists sent by the Provincial Health Authority also assisted them. He thanked Italy for its commitment and “the humanity shown”.

BRITISH INSPECTORS IN ACTION The diplomat confirmed that the government “has sent naval officers to support the operations: it is a normal thing when British citizens are involved. When it comes to British citizens, anywhere in the world, we try to help.” These are four inspectors from the Marine Accident Investigation Branch of the United Kingdom to conduct a “preliminary assessment” on the sinking of the Bayesian. THE ‘LITTLE CONCORDIÀ Thus the search operations continue with the use of 5 patrol boats from the Coast Guard of Palermo, Termini Imerese and Porticello, a helicopter from the Coast Guard Air Base of Catania, eight divers from the Coast Guard Underwater Units of Naples and Messina – who operated with the help of a remote-controlled underwater vehicle.

The Rov – Remotely Operated Vehicle, is capable of operating on the seabed with an autonomy of two hours – in addition to personnel, naval units and speleo-divers of the fire brigade, an Air Force helicopter and the Carabinieri, all under the coordination of the 12 Secondary Maritime Rescue Sub Center of the Palermo Coast Guard. The fire brigade explained that the intervention takes place with two speleo-divers at a time who can remain submerged at that depth for only a dozen minutes, including the two minutes to reach the seabed and then resurface. So “they actually have 10 minutes per dive to act”, they said, speaking of a “small Concordia” scenario, where “it is difficult to advance due to obstacles and very limited spaces”.

THE CHAMBERLAIN CASE And hours after the Bayesan yacht sank, it was learned that Stephen Chamberlain, Lynch’s co-defendant in the US fraud trial over the sale of Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard, had died after being seriously injured in a car crash on Saturday. Chamberlain died after being hit by a car while out for a run in Cambridgeshire, his lawyer Gary Lincenberg said. Chamberlain and Lynch were co-defendants in a fraud trial over the $11 billion sale of Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard in 2011. The pair faced the same fraud and conspiracy charges, with prosecutors alleging they planned to inflate the value of the company before it was sold, but both were acquitted of all 15 charges by a jury in San Francisco in June.

THE SMILE MAN “He had a smile that lit up everything.” This is how those who knew him remember Recaldo Thomas, the Canadian-Antiguan chef who worked on the Bayesian, the yacht that sank in front of Porticello. He is the first confirmed victim of the shipwreck. Gareth Williams, who lives in Antigua, had known Thomas for 30 years. “I can speak for everyone who knew him when I say – the BBC reports – that he was a much-loved and kind human being, with a calm spirit.” The two grew up together in Antigua during their free months: “He would come to my house on weekends and sing. He had the deepest, most sensual voice in the world and a smile that lit up the room. Just the other day he told me he had to work another two seasons to fix up his late parents’ house. He loved sailing, but he was tired.” Eli Fuller remembers: “He knew everyone and was friends with everyone. He was always asking how you were, how your family was, he was always positive.” He became an inspiration to young black men who wanted to get into yachting: “They saw all these white men working on the
yacht. Seeing an Antiguan man travel the world was important to our community.”