James Cutfield, 51, the captain of the Bayesian yacht, is now under investigation for manslaughter and shipwreck, according to the source and Italian media.
Italian prosecutors are looking into whether the captain of Mike Lynch Superyacht was responsible for the sinking of the ship last week off the coast of Sicily, resulting in the death of Lynch and six other people a judicial source reported.
However, that does not mean he will face charges. As NBC News noted, being placed under investigation in Italy does not imply guilt and does not guarantee formal charges will follow. Instead, notices need to be sent to people under investigation before authorities can carry out autopsies.
“Our client is deeply affected by this ordeal,” Giovanni Rizzuti, one of Cutfield’s lawyers, told the Guardian on Monday, citing that the captain would face further questioning by prosecutors on Tuesday. “We are currently assessing, with other legal representatives, the defense strategy and examining the technical aspects of the case.”
Authorities have not yet confirmed whether any of the other crew members will be put under investigation alongside Cutfield
The news of the investigation comes after all six of the missing guests aboard the Bayesian were confirmed dead when the last body was found on Aug.23.
The seven victims have been confirmed—by news outlets or their places of employment—as British tech mogul Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, Morgan Stanley International Chairman Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy Bloomer, and lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda Morvillo. The body of the ship’s cook Recaldo Thomas was found shortly after the incident.
Lynch’s wife Angela Bacares was among the 15 people aboard the Bayesian who were rescued by a nearby vessel and then brought to shore by the Coast Guard after the boat capsized.
The accident occurred on Aug. 19 when a violent storm struck suddenly off the coast of Sicily. Director of Sicily’s Civil Protection Agency Salvatore Cocina shared that it was likely a waterborne tornado—known as a waterspout—that sunk the 180-foot vessel, noting that the yacht was “in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
