THE doomed Bayesian superyacht is set to finally be raised from the seabed with the help of salvage experts and a huge floating crane.
Seven people died when Brit billionaire Mike Lynch’s luxury vessel sank off the coast of Porticello in Sicily during a storm last year.
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It is hoped that salvaging the wreckage of the sunken ship from its position 164ft below the water will provide some answers about the disaster.
The specialist Hebo Lift 2 arrived at the port of Termini Imerese earlier today.
The high-tech floating barge, which has almost 2,300ft of deck space, had sailed from Ortona in Italy with a core crew.
It will stay in the port for around two days to load up with salvage equipment.
Expert divers, remotely operated underwater vehicle pilots and other specialist marine personnel will embark the vessel over the next two days.
Subject to suitable weather and sea conditions, Hebo Lift 2 will leave the port at the weekend – bound for the wreck site.
This is set to coincide with the arrival of a floating crane on Sunday which is considered Europe’s biggest crane.
The 5,695 gross tonne heavy lifting tool – known as Hebo Lift 10 – departed Rotterdam in the Netherlands on April 19.
Preparatory works – including a detailed inspection of the Bayesian using a remote-controlled submersible – will be undertaken at the site before the yacht is winched to shore later this month.
A strict security perimeter of the air and sea will be maintained throughout the recovery project, which has seen over 70 marine experts mobilised to Sicily.
Marcus Cave, Head of Naval Architecture and a Director of TMC Marine, which is overseeing the recovery project, said: “We are now beginning to assemble, in Sicily, the expert salvage crews, key lifting and other capabilities that we need to safely recover Bayesian.
“Once on site, in the next seven to 10 days, we will be carefully assessing the vessel and location to ensure that our methodology and environmental protection plan are still appropriate, before beginning the underwater work that is necessary for the lifting operations.”
The 184ft Bayesian sank while anchored 985ft off the coast of a small fishing port near Palermo.
Among the victims were businessman Mike Lynch, 59, and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah.
Just two months before the disaster, Lynch had been cleared of carrying out a massive fraud over the sale of his software firm Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard in 2011.
The boat trip was a celebration of his acquittal in the case in the US.
Morgan Stanley boss Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy, US lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda, and the yacht’s chef Recaldo Thomas were also killed on board.
Fifteen others were rescued from the yacht on emergency lifeboats.
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The accident is still being treated as suspected manslaughter, with New Zealander captain James Cutfield and two British crew members under investigation by Italian authorities.
Britain’s Maritime Coastguard Agency is also probing the tragedy.
Bayesian – which had one of the world’s tallest masts – has been carefully monitored by anti-pollution specialists since it sank on August 19.
Mr Cave added: “We have three project goals – to protect the safety of personnel working on site, to safeguard the marine environment, and to safely recover the Bayesian.
“Our plans are progressing to schedule, and we will continue to update on progress throughout.”
Salvage workers will also have to check the sea bed for any parts of the yacht that may have become detached in the recent months.
In total, examinations on the raised yacht are expected to take a few months to be completed.
Inside the Bayesian’s final 16 minutes
By Ellie Doughty, Foreign News Reporter
Data recovered from the Bayesian’s Automatic Identification System (AIS) breaks down exactly how it sank in a painful minute-by-minute timeline.
At 3.50am on Monday August 19 the Bayesian began to shake “dangerously” during a fierce storm, Italian outlet Corriere revealed.
Just minutes later at 3.59am the boat’s anchor gave way, with a source saying the data showed there was “no anchor left to hold”.
After the ferocious weather ripped away the boat’s mooring it was dragged some 358 metres through the water.
By 4am it had began to take on water and was plunged into a blackout, indicating that the waves had reached its generator or even engine room.
At 4.05am the Bayesian fully disappeared underneath the waves.
An emergency GPS signal was finally emitted at 4.06am to the coastguard station in Bari, a city nearby, alerting them that the vessel had sunk.
Early reports suggested the disaster struck around 5am local time off the coast of Porticello Harbour in Palermo, Sicily.
The new data pulled from the boat’s AIS appears to suggest it happened an hour earlier at around 4am.
Some 15 of the 22 onboard were rescued, 11 of them scrambling onto an inflatable life raft that sprung up on the deck.
A smaller nearby boat – named Sir Robert Baden Powell – then helped take those people to shore.
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