As authorities piece together the series of events that led to the sinking of the Bayesian superyacht earlier this week, the CEO of the firm that owns the manufacturer of the ship is speaking out about the "endless chain of errors" that he claims contributed to the tragedy.
A total of 22 people including 12 passengers and 10 crew members were aboard the Bayesian when it sank off the coast of Sicily amid violent storms just before 5 a.m. on Monday morning. Though 15 people were rescued at the scene and one body was initially found in the water (believed to be that of the onboard chef, Recaldo Thomas) six others remain accounted for. At least five additional bodies were pulled from the water on Wednesday and Thursday.
Giovanni Costantino, CEO of The Italian Sea Group, detailed the list of possible mistakes that had been made while speaking with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, translated via People. "This episode sounds like an unbelievable story, both technically and as a fact,” Costantino said.
Perhaps most importantly, the luxury yachtmaker says that the guests should not have been in their cabins when the turbulent weather struck, but assembled at the ship's emergency meeting point. Part of the rescue efforts were hampered by debris blocking the underwater path to the cabins, where several of the bodies had reportedly been discovered.
"Instead it took on water with the guests still in the cabin. All it took was a 40-degree tilt and those in the cabin found themselves with the door above. Can you imagine a 60-70 year old man climbing out?" Costantino incredulously asked. "Everything that has been done reveals a very long sum of errors. The people should not have been in the cabins, the boat should not have been at anchor. And then why didn't the crew know about the incoming disturbance?"
"To begin with, in a weather alert situation it was inappropriate to have, as I read, a party. Not that evening," he continued. "The hull and deck needed to be secured by closing all doors and hatches, after putting the guests at the ship's meeting point as per emergency procedure. Then start the engines and pull up the anchor or release it automatically, put the bow to the wind and lower the keel."
Had they taken these precautions, Costantino asserts that the would have departed the following morning with zero damage. However, he also questioned why the ship was out on the water in the first place, when it the potentially hazardous weather patterns could have very easily been predicted.
"The passengers reported an absurd thing, namely that the storm came unexpected, suddenly. It's not true. Everything was predictable," Costantino stated. "I have the weather charts in front of me here. Nothing came suddenly Ask yourself, why was no fisherman from Porticello out that night? A fisherman reads the weather conditions and a ship doesn't? The disturbance was fully readable in all the weather charts. One could not not know."
"An unsinkable ship but from the crew an endless chain of errors," he added.
The CEO also claimed that had he been the captain, he would have moved the ship away from the oncoming storm. But even if he had stayed he would have managed the weather conditions which he said, "let's face it, weren't so crazy." Had the correct maneuvers been employed, he thinks there would have been "zero risk" to the vessel.
Costantino also slammed reports that the ship sunk within seconds as "nonsense." He thinks a more accurate timeframe would have been within six minutes of when the yacht began to take on water.
The results of a full investigation will likely determine what led the ship to sink as suddenly as it did. However, it's believed that the Bayesian was hit by a tornado-like waterspout—a rotating column of air that occurs over a body of water—that may have taken the captain and crew by surprise. Some have called it a "Black Swan" event; nearby boats were largely unharmed.
Among those still unaccounted for are British tech magnate Mike Lynch and his daughter Hannah; Morgan Stanley international director Jonathan Bloomer and his wife, Judy Bloomer; and Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife, Neda Morvillo. Italian authorities have still not disclosed the identities of the bodies recovered; in Italy a person close to the deceased must formally identify the body before a coroner or prosecutor can confirm.
