The widow of billionaire tech tycoon Mike Lynch has opened up about the final moments before the Bayesian superyacht sank during a summer storm last year.
The entrepreneur, 59, and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah were among seven people killed when the vessel sank off the Sicilian coast on August 19, 2024. Angela Bacares was one of 15 people who were rescued from the vessel.
In a statement released ahead of the first anniversary of the disaster on 19 August, Ms Bacares said she woke at around 4am after feeling the vessel “moving up and down and swaying”.
She then went to an upper deck to find the captain, 52-year-old New Zealander James Cutfield.
Although an interim report released by Italian coastguards sought to blame Mr Cutfield and the crew for the sinking, Ms Bacares said she had always felt “reassured” by the crew during bad weather.
She recalled that the yacht had encountered a “really bad storm” near Naples two weeks earlier without incident.
Ms Bacares, 58, described how, in the early hours of 19 August, objects on board began sliding around the vessel. But not realising they were in a “serious situation”, she did not alert others until “something catastrophic happened” and the vessel rolled suddenly.
“I think something catastrophic happened to make the boat roll over, but it was all very sudden,” she said.
The 50-metre boat had 22 people on board when it sank while anchored off Porticello near Palermo. As the boat sank, she was pulled to safety by a crew member.
The UK’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch has pointed to possible flaws in the yacht’s design. The MAIB is investigating as the Bayesian was registered in the United Kingdom.
In May, MAIB released an interim report that found wind speeds of 63.4 knots (73.0mph) on the yacht’s beam were sufficient to tip it over.
MAIB investigator Simon Graves said the sails were not raised and the vessel was “running on its engine” before the sinking.
“That indicated a vulnerability that the owner and the crew would not have known about,” he said.
No date has been set for when the final report will be published.
Mr Cutfield is under investigation for manslaughter alongside engineer Tim Parker Eaton and nightwatchman Matthew Griffiths, all of whom deny the allegations.
Inquest proceedings in the UK are looking at the deaths of Mr Lynch and his daughter, as well as Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer, 70, and his wife, Judy Bloomer, 71, who were all British nationals.
The others who died in the sinking were US lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda Morvillo, and Canadian-Antiguan national Recaldo Thomas, who was working as a chef on the vessel.
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