Rome
AP
–
The British bulging and luxurious superyacht, which stripped out of Sicily last year and killed British tech giant Mike Lynch and six others, completed its final trip to Sicily ports on Sunday to help the recovery crew confirm the complicated surgery and release it from the water.
The 56m (184ft) Bayesian white top and blue hull, covered in algae and mud, was lifted from Portisello Port by a yellow floating crane barge, then moved to a docked Termini Imerese early in the afternoon.
Delicate recovery work will be completed on Monday as the vessels will be transported to the coast and settled in a specially erected steel cradle.
It will then be available to investigators for further examinations that will help determine the cause of the sinking.
Bayesian sank on August 19 off Portisello near Palermo as Lynch treated his friend on a cruise two months ago to celebrate his acquittal of fraud charges. Lynch, his daughter and five others have died. Fifteen people survived, including all crew except the captain and chef.
Italian authorities are conducting a full criminal investigation.
The ship was slowly raised from the seabed, 50 meters deep (165 feet) over three days, securing steel lifting straps, slings and harnesses under the keel.
Bayesian lacks a 72m (236ft) mast, which is blocked and left on the seabed for future removal. The mast had to be removed so that the hull could be brought into a near-upper position where it could be raised.
British investigators said in a preliminary report issued last month that the yacht was defeated by “extreme winds” and could not recover.
The Bayesian crew said they chose the sinking location as a shelter due to thunderstorm predictions, according to the report. The wind speed exceeded 70 knots (81 mph) upon sinking, knocking the container “hardly” at a 90-degree angle in under 15 seconds.
