Originally published on E! Online
The following steps will be taken after the yacht sinks in Sicily.
The Captain of the Bayesian Superyacht James Cutfield is being investigated after seven of the 22 people on board – including six passengers and the ship’s chef –died after a waterspout hit him and sank the ship, as confirmed by prosecutors during a press conference aug. 24.
The New Zealander’s lawyer Giovanni Rizzuti confirmed to NBC News that his client has been investigated for multiple manslaughter, in addition to an investigation into causing a shipwreck. Rizzuti also confirmed that Cutfield will be questioned again by prosecutors in Sicily on August 27.
E! News has reached out to Rizzuti for comment but has not yet heard back.
That doesn’t mean he’ll be charged, though. As NBC News noted, the fact that he’s under investigation in Italy doesn’t imply guilt or guarantee that formal charges will be filed. Instead, notices must be sent to the people under investigation before authorities can perform autopsies.
Authorities have not yet confirmed whether other crew members besides Cutfield are being investigated.
News of the investigation comes after all six missing guests aboard the Bayesian were declared dead when the last body was found on August 23.
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News of the investigation comes after all six missing guests aboard the Bayesian were declared dead when the last body was found on August 23.
The seven victims have previously been confirmed – by news organizations or their workplaces – as British tech magnate Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter HannaChairman of Morgan Stanley International Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy Bloomerand lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda MorvilloThe body of the ship’s cook Bring back Thomas was found shortly after the incident.
Lynch’s wife Angela Bacares was one of 15 people aboard the Bayesian who were rescued by a nearby vessel and then brought to shore by the Coast Guard after the boat capsized.
The accident happened on August 19 when a violent storm suddenly struck off the coast of Sicily. Director of the Civil Protection Agency of Sicily Salvatore Kitchen previously shared that it was likely a water-borne tornado, also known as a waterspout, that sank the 180-foot vessel, and that the yacht was “in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
One of the 15 surviving passengers Charlotte Golunskiwho survived with her partner James Emsley and her 12 month old daughter Sofie, previously detailed the terrifying moment the ship was hit by the storm.
“For two seconds I lost my daughter in the sea, only to quickly embrace her amid the raging waves,” she told the Italian newspaper The Republic August 20according to the BBC“It was completely dark. In the water I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I screamed for help, but all I could hear around me were the screams of others.”
(E! News and NBC News are part of NBCUniversal.)
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