Crew member on tech tycoon Mike Lynch’s stricken yacht tells of being thrown into water
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Mr Matthew Griffiths, who was on watch duty on the night of the tragedy, told investigators that crew members did everything they could to save those on board Mike Lynch's yacht, the Bayesian.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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ROME – A crew member on Mr Mike Lynch’s yacht has spoken of being thrown into the water and efforts to rescue passengers as a storm sank the vessel off Sicily in August, in a disaster that killed the British tech tycoon and six other people.
Mr Matthew Griffiths, who was on watch duty on the night of the tragedy,
Mr Griffiths, the boat’s captain, Mr James Cutfield, and ship engineer Tim Parker Eaton have been placed under investigation by the Italian authorities for potential manslaughter and shipwreck.
Being investigated does not imply guilt and does not mean formal charges will follow.
“I woke up the captain when the wind was at 20 knots. He gave orders to wake everyone else,” Ansa quoted Mr Griffiths as saying.
“The ship tilted and we were thrown into the water. Then we managed to get back up and tried to rescue those we could,” he added, describing the events that took place during the early hours of Aug 19, when the Bayesian had been anchored off the Sicilian port of Porticello.
“We were walking on the walls (of the boat). We saved who we could. Cutfield also saved the little girl and her mother,” he said, referring to passenger Charlotte Golunski and her one-year-old daughter.
Fifteen people on board the yacht survived the ordeal.
Mr Cutfield exercised his right to remain silent when questioned by prosecutors on Aug 27, his lawyers said, saying he was “worn out” and that they needed more time to build a defence case.
Earlier, he had given a similar description to Mr Griffiths’ to investigators, reported Italian daily Il Corriere della Sera on Sept 1.
Mr Cutfield said the boat had tilted by 45 degrees and stayed in that position for some time. Then it suddenly fell completely to the right, the newspaper reported.
Mr Parker Eaton has not commented on the investigation. On Sept 1, Il Corriere quoted him as saying that all doors and hatches were closed when the storm hit the boat, except one giving access to the engine room.
That door was on the side opposite to the tilting and so could not be a factor causing the sinking, he said.
Prosecutor Raffaele Cammarano said on Aug 23 that the vessel was most likely hit by a “downburst”, a very strong downward wind.
However, the sinking has puzzled naval marine experts, who said a vessel like the Bayesian, built by Italian high-end yacht manufacturer Perini,
Prosecutors in the town of Termini Imerese, near Palermo, have said their investigation will take time, with the wreck yet to be salvaged from the sea. REUTERS
