First major piece of the Bayesian superyacht is raised from the seabed after it sank last summer, killing British billionaire Mike Lynch
The first piece of the superyacht Bayesian which sank last summer killing billionaire tech tycoon Mike Lynch has been brought to the surface.
Footage posted on specialist marine websites show a section of the Bayesian's boom being hauled aboard one of the salvage vessels that is currently above the yacht.
Coastguard officials and prosecutors had ordered an exclusion zone around the site of the wreck, and it is thought the clip was obtained by a drone.
The Bayesian went down last August off the coat of the Sicilian fishing village of Porticello and also killed, were 59-year-old Mr Lynch's daughter Hannah, 18, who was due to start at Oxford University a few weeks later.
The Bayesian went down in the early hours of the morning in just 16 minutes after being hit by a fierce storm with 100 mph winds and five other passengers also drowned.
Earlier this month the vessel – which locals say is cursed– claimed the life of an eighth person, a Dutch diver who was working on the £20 million salvage operation.
Two salvage ships, the Hebo Lift 2 and the Hebo Lift 10, are currently above the Bayesian, which is at depth of 160ft and the plan is to lift the yacht from later this month and take it to a specially constructed cradle at Termini Imerese.
Once on dry land prosecutors, lawyers and technical consultants will inspect the hull as a criminal investigation has been launched into the tragedy with crew members facing possible charges of manslaughter and causing a disaster.
In sailing the boom is the horizontal section below the sail and it connects to the mast via a fitting known as the 'gooseneck'.
It is thought the diver who died had been attempting to disconnect the gooseneck with a flammable torch when there was some sort of explosion, killing him and his death is now also the subject of an investigation.
It led to operation being delayed for a week while an investigating prosecutor carried out enquiries and the salvage work only restarted last Thursday.
The footage of the boom being hauled onto the deck of the Hebo Lift 2 was posted late on Sunday by the website site The Yacht Report.
A source in Porticello said:' The authorities aren't too happy as there is an exclusion zone around the Bayesian and it appears that somehow this footage was obtained by a drone.'
Authorities in Porticello confirmed to the MailOnline that the boom was brought up as part of the investigation into the diver's death.
The plan now is for the Bayesian to be lifted at some stage later this month after her trademark 236ft mast is removed from the deck.
This will be left on the seabed temporarily while the main part of the £30 million yacht is lifted.
Last week an interim Marine Accident Investigation Branch report said the yacht was doomed after it was hit by 80.6mph winds causing it to tilt violently on its side and it was unable to straighten as the freak storm hit.
The report highlighted how the keel had not been lowered and that 'vulnerabilities' in the yacht's stability had not been highlighted in the 184ft Bayesian's information manual carried onboard.
Italian Sea Group who bought Perini Navi which built the Bayesian have insisted the yacht 'was unsinkable' and declined to comment following the MAIB report.
The Bayesian sank in just 16 minutes after being hit by the violent 'mesocyclonic storm front' which has violent downdrafts ad surface winds in excess of 100mph (87knots).
In its report the MAIB said the captain and crew would have had no idea of the yacht's vulnerabilities as they were not laid out in the stability information booklet onboard.
The three crew members who are under investigation are captain James Cutfield, chief engineer Timothy Parker Eaton and deckhand Matthew Griffiths – who filmed the fierce storm as it approached and posted it online.
Under Italian law the fact the men have bene placed under investigation does not imply guilt and does not necessarily mean that charges will be brought it is merely a legal obligation to inform them.
The consortium chosen to salvage the Bayesian is led by TMC Marine, a UK based firm, who are using Dutch companies Hebo and Smit as part of the recovery.
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