The superyacht belonging to the late tech tycoon Mike Lynch has been moved to a town in Sicily where British and Italian investigators will examine its sinking.
Lynch and his daughter Hannah, 18, were among seven people who died when the Bayesian sank off the Italian coast on 19 August 2024.
Salvage teams said on Saturday that they had lifted the vessel “fully and finally out of the water” for the first time since it sank during a storm.
It was taken from the fishing village of Porticello at about 1.10pm local time on Sunday after it was held above the water by one of Europe’s most powerful floating sea cranes.
The vessel arrived two hours later in Termini Imerese, a town about 12 miles away, where it was due to moved into a specially manufactured steel cradle, which has a tarpaulin underneath for pollution prevention.
Italian prosecutors previously said raising and examining the yacht for evidence would provide vital information for its investigation into the sinking.
It will also aid the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) report on what happened.
Simon Graves, an MAIB investigator, previously told the PA news agency: “When the wreck is brought ashore, we’ll be completing a full examination of the wreck and we’ll be finding out all of the elements that might have contributed to the safety of the vessel.”
Further details such as “escape routes” will be included in its final report on the sinking, according to Graves, who added: “Once we get access to the vessel we’ll be able to tell a fuller picture of activities on board and the sequence of events.”
The vessel 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.
Lynch, who in June last year was cleared of fraud charges in the US relating to the sale of his company, Autonomy, to Hewlett-Packard in 2011, was enjoying a lavish voyage around Sicily to celebrate his acquittal alongside Hannah and his wife, Angela Bacares, whose company owned the Bayesian.
The lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife, Neda, the Morgan Stanley International bank chair, Jonathan Bloomer, and his wife, Judy, and the yacht’s chef, Recaldo Thomas, also died in the incident. Nine other crew members and six guests – including Bacares – were rescued.
About 70 specialist personnel had been mobilised to Porticello from across Europe to work on the recovery operation.
Inquest proceedings in the UK are looking at the deaths of Lynch, his daughter and the Bloomers, who were all British nationals.
