Pictured: Bayesian interior seen for first time since superyacht raised

Telegraph

18 hours ago

The first images of the wrecked, muddy interior of the Bayesian superyacht have been released, a week after the vessel was raised from the seabed off Sicily.
Photographs reveal a scene of devastation, with the once sumptuous reception area a chaotic mess of upturned armchairs, waterlogged cushions and mud-soaked divans.
Upholstery is ripped and furniture piled chaotically against the windows of the yacht, offering a chilling insight into the damage suffered after it capsized and sank.
Its once shiny hull and keel are streaked with grime, while the engine room is full of silt and mud.
The 56-metre (184ft) long boat had been underwater for 10 months before it was recovered earlier this month.
The British vessel, which boasted one of the tallest masts in the world, sank in a freak storm about half a mile off the fishing town of Porticello, on Sicily's north coast, last August.
Seven people lost their lives, including the yacht's owner Mike Lynch, the British tech billionaire, and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, who had won a place at Oxford University.
After being raised from a depth of 150ft by a giant crane attached to a floating platform, the Bayesian was transported about 15 miles along the coast to the industrial port of Termini Imerese.
There, it was hoisted onto a specially made steel cradle. It will now be examined by investigators, who are trying to work out what caused it to sink so quickly.
The Italian builders of the vessel insist it was virtually unsinkable and that there must have been some degree of human error on the part of the crew, suggesting that a hatch was left open by accident on the night of the storm. But when it was raised last week, it appeared that all hatches were securely closed.
Inquest proceedings in Britain are looking at the deaths of Mr Lynch and his daughter, as well as Jonathan Bloomer, the 70-year-old chairman of Morgan Stanley International bank, and his wife Judy, 71, who were all British nationals.
Chris Morvillo, a US lawyer, and his wife Neda, as well as Recaldo Thomas, a chef with joint Canadian and Antiguan nationality, also died. Fifteen people, including Mr Lynch's wife, Angela Bacares, were rescued.
In an interim report last month, investigators from the Marine Accident Investigation Branch said the Bayesian was knocked over by 'extreme wind'.
The yacht had a vulnerability to winds, but the owner, captain and crew would not have known of its inherent structural weaknesses, the report said.
Italian prosecutors are conducting a criminal investigation into the yacht's sinking.
They are investigating James Cutfield, the New Zealand skipper, as well as Tim Parker Eaton, the British chief engineer and Matthew Griffiths, a British deckhand, for potential manslaughter and causing a shipwreck. Being placed under investigation does not necessarily mean they will eventually be charged.
The tycoon founded software giant Autonomy in 1996 and was cleared in June last year of carrying out a massive fraud over the sale of the firm to Hewlett-Packard (HP) in 2011.
The cruise around the Mediterranean was a celebration of his acquittal in the case in the US.