Water is being pumped from a superyacht that belonged to the late British tycoon Mike Lynch, after it was seen upright for the first time since sinking off the coast of Sicily last summer.
The 56-metre (184ft) vessel, named Bayesian, was spotted in an upright position near the fishing town of Porticello on Saturday morning, held by one of Europe’s most powerful sea cranes.
The sinking on 19 August led to the deaths of seven people, including billionaire Mr Lynch, 59, and his 18-year-old daughter, Hannah.
The boat’s manufacturers, Italian prosecutors, British marine investigators and survivors have all made different claims about why the boat sank so suddenly.
A project insider said this week: “The vessel is on [the] surface, but not clear of the sea as yet. Pumping out of water will continue, and it will be lunchtime – following a series of lifting and resting procedures – before she will finally be fully and finally out of the water.”
Salvage workers could be seen on the vessel, which is covered in mud and algae, while the canopy and guard rails are mangled. They disclosed that there were 18,000 litres of fuel on board.
Investigators in the UK and Italy say raising the vessel is crucial to fully understanding what happened after it sank in just 16 minutes.
The yacht’s 72-metre (236ft) mast was cut off on Tuesday using a remote-controlled tool and rested on the seabed to be picked up later.
Over the last few days, salvage teams have worked to ease the hull into an upright position and give access to the yacht’s right side, which had previously been lying flat on the seabed 50 metres below the surface.
The vessel is expected to be brought to Termini Imerese – where Italian prosecutors investigating the sinking are based, and on Monday it will be lifted onto a specially made steel cradle on the quayside.
It was originally expected to be raised last month, but salvage efforts were delayed after a diver died during underwater work on 9 May, prompting greater use of remote-controlled equipment.
About 70 specialist personnel had been mobilised to Porticello from across Europe to work on the multi-million pound recovery operation, which began last month after the Bayesian had sat on the seafloor for 10 months.
Sicilian prosecutors have opened an inquiry into suspected manslaughter and have placed the captain James Cutfield, from New Zealand, and two British crew members, Tim Parker Eaton and Matthew Griffiths, under investigation.
But a Marine Accident Investigation Branch investigators found in an interim report that the vessel's design, particularly its raised centreboard and high mast, could also be responsible for the tragedy.
The yacht had a vulnerability to winds, but the owner and crew would not have known, the report said, finding that the Bayesian was knocked over by “extreme wind”.
A coastguard official in Palermo said at the time that bad weather had been expected but not of the magnitude witnessed. Winds of up to 90mph were recorded on the day.
Subsequent investigations have identified that the boat was hit by a mesocyclone, which is a type of powerful rotating thunderstorm that can produce tornadoes or extreme wind bursts.
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.
US lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda Morvillo, and Canadian-Antiguan national Recaldo Thomas, who was working as a chef on the vessel, also died in the sinking.
Fifteen people, including Mr Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, were rescued.
Mr Lynch founded software giant Autonomy in 1996 and was cleared in June last year of carrying out a massive fraud over the sale of the firm to Hewlett-Packard (HP) in 2011.
The boat trip was a celebration of his acquittal in the case in the US.
