Tragedy in Palermo / New details from the sailboat's black box, Bayesian

2024-08-23 20:38:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

The details of what happened in the last minutes aboard the luxury yacht, Bayesian, which unfortunately sank on Monday morning off the coast of Palermo, Sicily, are revealed. While the data of the ship's black box have been discovered and at the same time analyzed by the police who are investigating the tragedy, the last body has also been found, which belonged to the 18-year-old daughter of tycoon Mike Lynch.

Data obtained from the Automatic Bayesian Identification System (AIS) analyzes exactly how it sank over a period of 16 minutes.

The chronology of the tragedy

It turns out that at 3:50 a.m. on Monday the Bayesian began shaking "dangerously" during a strong storm, reports Italian newspaper Corriere.

Minutes later, at 3.59am, the ship's anchor gave way, with a source saying evidence showed there was "no anchor to hold".

After bad weather caused the boat to lose its anchor, its whale was dragged about 358 meters into the water.

By 4am she had started taking on water and had darkened, indicating that the waves had reached the generator or even the engine room.

At 4.05am the Bayesian disappeared completely under the waves. An automatic GPS distress signal was finally issued at 4.06am. to the Coast Guard station in Barrie, informing them that the vessel had sunk.

Survivors and witnesses from a small boat nearby – along with official reports – initially helped provide a first account of how the disaster unfolded on Monday morning.

Evidence from the nearby port

About 150 meters away from Bayesian was Sir Robert Baden, a Dutch-flagged sailing yacht built in 1957, skippered by 69-year-old veteran sailor Carsten Borner.

"We woke up to the storm," Borner described to the Guardian. “The first thing I did was put my sailboat's motors forward to give the boat more stability. After securing our ship, we immediately approached the Bayesian.'

Another fisherman, Francesco Lo Coco, photographed the signal for help: “I saw the sailboat swaying. The emergency blast was fired while the sailboat was sinking."

People reported seeing a "tornado" - later clarified to be a swirling cloud of air and water (a hydro-turbine) - hit the ship's 75-metre-high mast.

Officials confirmed this is what tipped the boat over, causing it to list and take on water before sinking.

Initial reports indicate that the disaster occurred at around 5 am local time in the port of Porticello in Palermo, Sicily.

New data from the ship's AIS appears to suggest it happened an hour ago around 4am./CNA