Work to salvage the superyacht Bayesian, which sank in August during a thunderstorm, ceased Saturday after a Dutchman working on the wreck off the coast of Sicily died.
Italian news agency AGI identified the diver as Robcornelis Maria Huijben Uiben, 39. Workers were cutting a horizontal pole attached to the boat’s mast with a torch when a piece of metal shot out and hit him.
The salvage work is being led by British company TMC Marine. Uiben worked for Holland’s Hebo Maritiemservice, part of the recovery effort, according to Reuters.
“The salvage team is providing full cooperation to the authorities in their investigations [into the death of Uiben]. While there is considerable interest in this project, we would ask the media to be considerate of the entire project team and allow sufficient time for the investigations to run their course and for those affected to reflect and mourn at this terribly sad time,” TMC Marine Director Marcus Cave told Reuters.
The Bayesian, owned by British billionaire Mike Lynch, sank on Aug. 19 amid a thunderstorm. Lynch, 59, his daughter Hannah, 18, and five others died when the ship went under, according to The Associated Press.
A trio of crew members, Capt. James Cutfield, chief engineer Tim Parker Eaton and sailor Matthew Griffiths, are under investigation for manslaughter and negligent shipwreck for the sinking off the Italian island. Another yacht anchored near the Bayesian during the thunderstorm escaped unscathed, according to maritime news site Marine Insight.
Mr. Griffiths, who was on night watch, is accused of not noticing the storm early enough, and Mr. Eaton is accused of reacting too late as water entered the boat, according to a document from Italian prosecutors cited by Marine Insight.
Mr. Cutfield is under suspicion of not warning the passengers on board the Bayesian about the danger posed by the storm.
