Italy
Sunken British superyacht raised
A British-flagged luxury superyacht that sank off Sicily last year, killing UK tech magnate Mike Lynch and six others, has completed its final trip to the Sicilian port of Termini Imerese, a day after recovery crews finalised the complex operation to lift it out of the water.
The white top and blue hull of the 56m (184-foot) Bayesian, covered with algae and mud, was kept elevated by the yellow floating crane barge off the port of Porticello, before being transferred to Termini Imerese, where it docked in the early afternoon.
The delicate recovery operation will be concluded on Monday, as the vessel will be transported to shore and settled in a specially built steel cradle.
Then it will be made available for investigators for further examinations to help determine the cause of the sinking.
The recovered Bayesian superyacht takes its final journey to a Sicilian port. – AP
The Bayesian was moored off the small port of Porticello, near Palermo, in August last year when it sank during a sudden storm.
The yacht was vulnerable to violent winds and was probably knocked over by gusts of more than 117km (73 miles) per hour, an interim British report said last month.
The salvage team, led by British company TMC Marine, pumped sea water out of the hull and the vessel was held in an elevated position, surrounded by pollution containment booms, while further checks were carried out.
"This was a complex and precise lifting operation to recover Bayesian, and followed a step-by-step program of salvage work," said Marcus Cave, a director of TMC Marine.
The plan is for the yacht to be carried to port on Sunday before it is lifted on Monday on to a specially manufactured steel cradle on the quayside.
The recovery process has been made easier after the vessel's 72-metre mast was detached using a remote-controlled cutting tool and placed on the seabed last week.
In addition to Lynch, founder of the software company Autonomy, his daughter Hannah, lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda, banker Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy, and chef Recaldo Thomas were killed when the yacht sank.
Nine other crew members and six guests were rescued.
Seawater is pumped out of the rear of the vessel as it is lifted. – AP
