Mike Lynch’s super yacht beaten by ‘Extreme Wind’, says Report Says

A luxurious super yacht that dropped from the coast of Sicily, in which the tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch was killed together with six others, was turned by “extreme wind” and could not recover, according to an interim report in the disaster.

The UK’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB), which led the international research, said that the wind of more than 80 km / h “violently” hit the ship, flooding within a few seconds.

The Bayesian sank near the city of Portofino on 19 August last year during Freak again, with reports of water sprayers.

Seven of the 22 people were killed on board, including Mr. Lynch, 59, and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah.

Researchers say that the yacht was beaten to a 90 -degree angle within 15 seconds at 4:06 am, causing people, furniture and loose articles to fall over the deck.

“There was no indication of floods in Bayesian until water entered the starboard rails and the internal spaces entered the stairwells within a few seconds,” says the report.

The Chief Inspector of the Maib of Marine -accidents Andrew Moll said that the situation was “irreparable” as soon as the yacht tilted after 70 degrees.

The Bayesian was also “vulnerable” for lighter wind, according to the report, with speeds of 73 MPH that could surround it.

The owner and the crew of the yacht were not aware of this because it was not included in the information book on board, it adds.

The Maib examines the incident while the Bayesian was registered in the UK. No date has been set for when the final report is published.

It said that the report was based on “a limited amount of verified evidence”, since a criminal investigation by the Italian authorities has limited access to the wreck.

An operation to lift the 56 -meter ship from the seabed was paused during the weekend After a diver died while working on the wreck. The work will be resumed on Thursday.

The report contains more details about how sinking unfolded.

Researchers say that the hunt for the site sailed where it dropped the previous day, to “protect” against prediction thunder. The sails were enlarged at the time.

Wind speed was “no more than eight knots (9 mph)” at 3:00 am – about an hour before the incident. About 55 minutes later it had risen to 30 knots (34.5 mph), and it was accelerated to 70 knots (80.6 mph) against 4:06 when the yacht cut.

As the storm increased, different crew members worked in response to the conditions. The cover hand went on the deck to close the windows of the yacht.

Five people were injured “by falling or things that fell on them” and the cover hand was “thrown into the sea,” says the report.

Two of the guests of the yacht used furniture loads “as an improvised ladder” to escape from their hut, it adds.

Dr. Simon Boxall, Oceanographer at the University of Southampton, said that the Bayesian was “the wrong place at the wrong time”.

“The priorities for the crew would have been to close the shutters and doors what they did,” he told the BBC.

This means that speculation about water floods votes in, because everything was open “is clearly not the case”.

“The next priority would have been to start the engines – so they would have some maneuverability to position themselves in a storm – and then to lift the anchor, what the crew did, but this took time,” he added.

“It’s not like a car you jump in and turns the key. It would take 5 or 10 minutes before you can start the engines with a ship of this size.”

Survivors escaped the life of the Bayesian and were saved by a small boat sent from another nearby yacht, says the report.

Mike Lynch was a prominent figure in the British technical industry, where his support from successful companies led him to be called the British equivalent of Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

But the last years of his life were consumed by a long -term legal dispute that led him to be it controversially delivered to the US.

Research procedures in the UK look at the death of Mr Lynch and his daughter, like Morgan Stanley International Bank, chairman Jonathan Bloomer and his wife, Judy Bloomer, who were all British subjects.

The American lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda Morvillo also died in the sinking, together with the Canadian-Antiguan National Recaldo Thomas, who worked as chef of the yacht.

Fifteen people managed to escape from a lifeboat, including the wife of Mr Lynch, Angela Bacares.