" A sudden and unexpected event. The passengers were probably sleeping , which is why they remained in the cabin. We are still investigating this based on the survivors' accounts."
This was reported by the public prosecutor of Termini Imerese Raffaele Cammarano who is coordinating the investigations into the shipwreck of the Bayesian , the luxury vessel that became a trap for seven people who lost their lives.
"At the moment - the prosecutor said this morning - we are not certain that there is a black box . At this stage the focus was on the search. We must wait for the recovery of the vessel. We cannot confirm whether the doors were open. There will be no statements on what the divers have seen at the moment. It could be information that needs to be confirmed by a second check".
The vessel, he added, "was hit by a downburst" , these are strong gusts of descending wind with horizontal motion coming out of storms. They can reach speeds of over 100 km per hour.
When the storm occurred, there was a crew member on the bridge, the prosecutor added, underlining that "the investigation is aimed at understanding what happened". There is no doubt that the two vessels (another sailing vessel sank that night, but the shipwrecked people were rescued) could have been at anchor in that area, "after all, there was no storm warning that evening" .
The case, currently against unknown persons, is open with the hypotheses of the crime of negligent shipwreck and manslaughter : «It could also be possible that we register any suspects before the recovery of the sailing vessel», reported the chief prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio. The magistrate specified that the crew «must not remain in Sicily, there is no legal obligation and the members are free to leave Sicily, but they must give their full availability to be heard from again».
(Unioneonline/L)
