Mike Lynch superyacht sinking latest: Manslaughter probe to look at crew responsibility as tributes paid to Hannah

The prosecutor in charge of the case, Raffaele Cammarano, suggested that some passengers may have been asleep when others were awake.

Asked why they were not woken up or alerted, he said that is something investigators are trying to work out from the statements of the survivors.

He called it an “essential” part of the inquiry.

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The press conference heard several bodies onboard the sunken yacht were found in a single cabin which was not theirs.

Mr Cammarano said investigators currently do not know the reason for them being discovered in the same cabin.

The chief of the Palermo fire service, Bentivoglio Fiandra, said the yacht pinned to the right and suggested people tried to go on the other side, taking refuge in cabins in the higher part of the wreck.

The vessel had been deemed “unsinkable” by its manufacturer – Italian shipyard Perini Navi.

The Bayesian was hit by a downburst, according to Mr Cammarano, which are powerful winds that descend from a thunderstorm and spread out quickly once they hit the ground.

Officials will look into the safety equipment on the sunken vessel.

Mr Cammarano was asked about whether there is a black box and if the hatches were left open.

He said investigators do not have exact information about the black box and that the first phase of the inquiry will look into it.

Another yacht, the Sir Robert BP, was about 150 to 200 metres from the Bayesian when extreme weather hit.

Its crew helped to rescue 15 people from the stricken vessel.

Italian officials said they would be looking at how the downburst could affect one vehicle and not other nearby vessels.

Maritime director of western Sicily Rear Admiral Raffaele Macauda could not confirm how long it would take to retrieve the shipwreck of the sunken yacht.

“Everything depends on the availability of the owners and the timeframe of the retrieval of the wreck and of course all that has to be submitted to the port authorities and in parallel of course there will be the inquiry results and it’s only really then that we will be able to authorise the operation,” he said.

“I can’t say, like some experts who have already spoken on the subject, that it will be eight weeks.”

He made clear that the owners will bear the full cost of retrieval, although he could not estimate the figure.

• The search resumes for the remaining missing person.
• The body of the fifth missing person, found but not recovered the previous day, is brought to shore.
• A fire service boat with flashing blue lights returns with a blue body bag to the port of Porticello just after 8.45am local time on Thursday.
• Tributes pour in for Mr Lynch and Mr and Mrs Bloomer after they are identified as having died.

• The search continues for the final person missing from the wreck of the Bayesian, later confirmed to be 18-year-old Hannah.
• Vincenzo Zagarola, of the Italian Coastguard, says the search for Hannah has not been “easy or quick”, comparing the sunken yacht to an “18-storey building full of water”.
• A spokesperson announces on behalf of her family that they are “devastated” and “in shock” after the bodies of Hannah and her father were recovered.
• Hannah’s sister Esme pays tribute to her “little angel”.

• A press conference is held in the court of an Italian town – Termini Imerese.
• Public prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio tells reporters that his office has opened an initial investigation against unknown persons into manslaughter and negligent shipwreck, according to a translation.
• The press conference also hears from the prosecutor in charge of the case, Raffaele Cammarano, maritime director of western Sicily Rear Admiral Raffaele Macauda, the fire brigade chief of Palermo, Bentivoglio Fiandra, and the brigade’s chief diver, Giuseppe Petrone.