Specialist naval divers called in to search for clues to why Mike Lynch superyacht sank

Investigating magistrate calls in Italian navy equivalent of British Special Boat Service to trawl sunken Bayesian

Italy’s fire service sent down crews to recover the bodies

Italian navy specialist divers are combing the superyacht on which tycoon Mike Lynch and six others died to try to find out why it sank last month off Sicily.

An investigating magistrate has reportedly asked the Italian navy’s secretive Comsubin unit to search for clues as to what happened, so he can check them against statements given by the crew.

Sicilian magistrates are investigating the yacht’s captain, a British yacht engineer and another British crew member over their role in the sinking of the Bayesian in a storm off Sicily last month.

Neither Mike Lynch nor his daughter, Hannah, survived (Tancredi)

Fifteen people, including Mr Lynch’s wife, survived the sinking, and other vessels nearby stayed afloat.

Mr Lynch died alongside his 18-year-old daughter, Hannah, the boat’s chef and four others who were on board the British-flagged yacht, celebrating his acquittal after a decade-long legal battle.

About six divers from the Comsubin unit are combing the 180ft superyacht for electronic equipment, including data storage and CCTV footage, according to The Times.

They are also checking whether doors or hatches were left open, a source close to the investigation told the paper.

Sources close to New Zealander James Cutfield, 51, the captain, told the Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera that is living through the darkest days of his life.

A large-scale search operation by Italy’s fire service was carried out over for five days as they retrieved the seven bodies.

Divers faced debris and furniture that blocked the narrow passageways of the sunken yacht.

But the sinking has puzzled maritime experts, who said a vessel such as the Bayesian, built by high-end yacht manufacturer Perini, should have withstood the storm.

An Italian fire service dive team return to port on the fifth day of the search (Jonathan Brady/PA) (PA Wire)

The naval diving specialists from Comsubin, which is the Italian navy equivalent of the British Special Boat Service, have now begun work, supported by a navy minesweeper with a decompression chamber to help in deep-dive operations.

The authorities say the vessel’s owner, Revton, which is controlled by Lynch’s widow Angela Bacares, will fund the operation to raise the yacht.

Revton has employed a Genoa-based diving company, Drafinsub, to use sonar and a submersible robot to study the state of the Bayesian to plan how to raise it.

“With the robot we will video the hull to see how the yacht and its mast are positioned on the sea floor, while the sonar we have on a vessel can map the sea floor and check the position of the anchor and chain,” a Drafinsub official told The Times.

Around 18,000 litres of fuel must be syphoned out of the yacht’s tanks to avoid any spillage and make the vessel lighter to lift.

Then buoyancy balloons may be used or ties could be attached to the yacht to hoist it to the surface.