The salvage operation to recover the Bayesian superyacht started last week and includes floating cranes, remote-controlled robots, and specialist divers amongst other marine experts
A diver working on recovering tech tycoon Mike Lynch’s sunken £14million superyacht has died – just days after recovery operations begun.
On August 19 last year the Bayesian superyacht, sank during a storm off the coast of Sicily killing 59-year-old Brit billionaire Mike Lynch his 18-year-old daughter and five others. Officials in Italy are planning to pull up the superyacht wreckage in the hope they can find more answers about what happened.
Of the 22 onboard at the time of the disaster, 15 survived with 11 – including Mike Lynch’s wife – rescued on an inflatable life raft. The incident was being treated as suspected manslaughter. Salvage operations to recover the boat, which currently lies 160ft below the surface on the ocean floor, have begun.
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When raised, the Bayesian will be taken to Termini Imerse, a nearby port, where it will be inspected. Footage from the shipwreck showed divers pushing through trashed corridors and rooms inside the ship which is currently lying on its starboard side.
The salvage operation includes floating cranes, remote-controlled robots, and specialist divers amongst other marine experts. Dutch firm SMIT Salvage is just one of the firms involved in the recovery of the 56-metre (184ft) superyacht.
Tragically, Robcornelis Maria Huijben Uiben, 39, reportedly died when working alongside other recovery workers to cut the boom of the yacht. The diver, who is thought to be a Dutch national, was pronounced dead on Friday afternoon and is believed to have been working for Dutch firm SMIT Salvage.
Local media speculated that the man was hit by part of the cut boom as it came off whilst he was underwater. But police said they have launched a probe to understand what exactly caused the man’s death. According to other local media reports, an underwater explosion was heard by at least one person before the man was found dead, reports The Sun.
The gruelling recovery operation, which began just days earlier on May 4, was paused when the alarm was raised and the man’s body was recovered. On the dock, coastguards and the main prosecutor working on the case, Raffaele Cammarano, were present.
The vessel is due to be lifted to an upright position and brought to the surface in about two weeks. The operation’s conclusion will hopefully shed light on how the supposedly unsinkable superyacht sank.
Officials are now investigating three crew members are being investigated in Sicily after being accused of leaving open the door at the rear port side and causing water to enter the yacht and flood it. The vessel sank during a celebration of Mr Lynch’s acquittal over alleged fraud following the sale of his software firm Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard in 2011.