Mike Lynch's sunken yacht to be pulled from Sicilian waters in May
ROME, April 22 (Reuters) - The superyacht that sank off Sicily last year, killing British tech tycoon Mike Lynch and six others, will be lifted out of the water next month after its mast is dismantled, people close to the matter said on Tuesday.
The recovery of the British-flagged Bayesian, lying on its right side at a depth of around 50 metres (164 feet), could help explain why it went down during a sudden storm off the port of Porticello, near Palermo - an event that has baffled naval experts.
The salvage operation will be managed by a joint venture of Dutch companies HEBO Maritiemservice and Smit Salvage, the Italian officials, who declined to be named as they are not authorised to speak on the matter, said.
Neither company was immediately available to comment.
A ship carrying the mega crane HEBO Lift 10 has left the port of Rotterdam and is currently sailing off the French Atlantic coast, one of the sources said, adding that it will take 10 to 12 days to reach Porticello.
Twenty-two people were on board the Bayesian, of whom 15 survived. The survivors included nine of the 10 crew members and Lynch's wife, whose company owned the Bayesian. Lynch's daughter was among those who died.
Italian prosecutors and coastguards have selected a recovery project led by TMC Marine Consultants Ltd, which involves pulling the 72-metre mast out of the water before the rest of the vessel in order to safeguard the hull and evidence it may contain.
Other potential salvage plans, which involved turning the 55.9-metre yacht, which weighs 534 tonnes, almost 90 degrees on the seabed without dismantling its mast, were rejected because of the complexity of the procedure.
Prosecutors in the town of Termini Imerese, near Palermo, have placed three crew members under investigation: Captain James Cutfield, ship engineer Tim Parker Eaton and night watch duty sailor Matthew Griffiths.
They are suspected of manslaughter and causing a shipwreck.
The prosecutors have said the Bayesian will have to be pulled out of the water before the investigation can be concluded.
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Western Telegraph
34 minutes ago
- Western Telegraph
MoD ‘dishonest' to call 1994 Chinook crash an accident, say families
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Leader Live
35 minutes ago
- Leader Live
MoD ‘dishonest' to call 1994 Chinook crash an accident, say families
RAF Chinook ZD576 was carrying 25 British intelligence personnel from RAF Aldergrove in Northern Ireland to a conference at Fort George near Inverness when it crashed in foggy weather on June 2 1994 on the Mull of Kintyre, Scotland. All 25 passengers – made up of personnel from MI5, the Royal Ulster Constabulary and the British Army – were killed, along with the helicopter's four crew members. The families of those who died said earlier this month that they were beginning legal action against the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for not ordering a public inquiry. They want a High Court judge to be able to review information which they say was not included in previous investigations, and which they believe will shed new light on the airworthiness of the helicopter. The families, who have coalesced into the Chinook Justice Campaign, said failing to order a public inquiry is a breach of the UK Government's human rights obligations. An MoD spokesperson said: 'The Mull of Kintyre crash was a tragic accident, and our thoughts and sympathies remain with the families, friends and colleagues of all those who died. 'We have received a pre-action protocol letter from the Chinook Justice Campaign and are considering our response. Therefore, it would be inappropriate to comment further.' Solicitor Mark Stephens, who is representing the families, said: 'The statements issued by the Ministry of Defence in recent days are so blatantly at odds with the facts as we now know them that they have caused immense upset to the families and cast a further cruel and disgraceful shadow on this ongoing travesty of justice. 'We know that the RAF helicopter carrying the 29 service personnel who were killed, serving their country, had been grounded because of fatal flaws in the software on board. 'For the MoD to claim that this was a 'tragic accident' flies in the face of the facts and is blatantly and disgracefully at odds with the truth. 'It is nothing short of dishonest, deceitful and disingenuous and we demand a retraction.' The families have also called for the release of documents that were sealed at the time of the crash for 100 years, something revealed in a BBC documentary last year. The MoD has said that records held in the National Archives contain personal information and early release of those documents would breach their data protection rights. Mr Stephens said: 'For the Government to believe that data protection laws were designed to protect someone who is living – and who may have made a dreadful decision that night – rather than the truth emerging over 29 service personnel who were killed in an unairworthy aircraft, is a total abomination. 'This decision must be overturned, these files must be seen by a judge, and we will fight this in court if necessary.' Niven Phoenix, a commercial pilot whose father Ian was one of the senior RUC officers killed in the crash, said: 'This was about as far from a tragic accident as you could get. Locking the files away until we are all dead proves there is a cover-up about something. 'The MoD's statement that these files have been sealed to protect third party interests is yet another disingenuous, distasteful and outright dishonest assertion designed to hide the truth using data protection laws which only came into force in the UK long after the crash. 'The Government would prefer for all the children of the Chinook victims to die like their parents rather than provide access, answers and take accountability for past mistakes. This is not the duty of candour promised by Keir Starmer in his election manifesto.' Following the crash, the Chinook's pilots, Flight Lieutenants Richard Cook and Jonathan Tapper, were accused of gross negligence, but this verdict was overturned by the UK Government 17 years later, following a campaign by the families. A subsequent review by Lord Philip set out 'numerous concerns' raised by those who worked on the Chinooks, with the MoD's testing centre at Boscombe Down in Wiltshire declaring the Chinook Mk2 helicopters 'unairworthy' prior to the crash.
Scottish Sun
an hour ago
- Scottish Sun
How illegal migrants are paying £20k to fly into the UK using fake papers before disappearing in new border threat
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) APPROACHING British passport control, a mum grips her young daughter's hand nervously. She fidgets with the documents they hope will fool airport officials into letting them through. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 7 Cops arrested the crooks they believed had been trafficking untold numbers of illegal immigrants into Britain Credit: GMP 7 Cops ready to strike on a morning raid in Bolton Credit: GMP 7 An officer whacks the door with a battering ram Credit: GMP 7 Two policemen lead their suspect towards a van Credit: GMP With her eyes darting nervously and head hung low, it doesn't take long for border control officers at Manchester airport to clock something is not quite right. And on closer examination, it is clear the paperwork is forged. Immediately, they are blocked from entering the UK. But while this mum and daughter failed, there are plenty more queuing up to take their place — and the majority are Iranians, cops believe. And far from risking death in treacherous boat journeys across the Channel, these chancers are prepared to pay £20,000 for a forged document pack enabling them to travel to the UK from airports all over Europe. Many will get through — mysteriously disappearing once they have conned their way through customs. Or they will dump their forged or stolen documents and immediately head to the closest immigration office to beg for asylum. But on this occasion, Greater Manchester Police were called and an investigation — named Operation Alfriston — was quickly formed. Its aim is to discover who these ruthless smuggling gangs are and how they operate across the UK. This week The Sun was invited to watch as cops smashed down doors and arrested the crooks they believed had been trafficking untold numbers of illegal immigrants into Britain. 13 migrants jumped from the back of a lorry at a Sainsbury's distribution centre in South East London At 6am yesterday, 129 GMP police officers, alongside seven immigration compliance and enforcement officers, stormed 15 different addresses. They arrested eight men, between the ages of 18 and 52, and two women, aged 32 and 43, all involved in a conspiracy to facilitate a breach of immigration law by assisting illegal entry into the UK. If charged and found guilty, each member could face life in prison for their role in the smuggling ring. 'I think we're just scraping the surface' The arrests took place in Greater Manchester — Bolton, Sale, Bramhall, Salford, Leigh and Cheadle — and Cricklewood, North London. We saw cops from the Tactical Aid Unit shatter a glass door and then break down an internal one to enter a property in Bolton. They alerted the occupants to their arrival with shouts of 'police' as they marched inside in full protective gear. Greater Manchester Police's Head of Intel, Detective Chief Superintendent John Griffith, told The Sun: 'Tackling immigration crime has become a priority for us. With the arrests yesterday morning, I think we're just scraping the surface. 'By focusing on gathering intelligence on the infrastructure around how people are entering the UK illegally, hopefully we can deter other people from doing it.' 7 Migrants met by officers after arriving in Kent Credit: AFP Often people who are smuggled into the UK will end up working for little money at businesses such as car washes, nail bars and hairdressers. DCS Griffith, who has a background in counter terrorism, added: 'These people are hugely vulnerable. 'If you can imagine some of the travelling conditions that they will have faced across Europe when coming into the UK — to put up with that, there must be a real desire to get here. 'That desire often transfers into a willingness to pay a lot of money to individuals to facilitate that entry, irrespective of the success of that entry or not. 'There are numerous individuals who have paid these facilitators and actually have never arrived in the UK, but continue to engage with them and pay them just for the attraction of coming here.' Not long before Christmas last year, the ringleader of an organised crime gang dealing with migrants was picked up at the airport and flagged to police. At the time, he was not arrested. Instead, cops gathered intelligence so that when they struck, they could take out all the key players. While this is technically smuggling, it sits in a grey area that shares characteristics with modern slavery. Justine Carter The crook did most of his communications in the Persian language Farsi, adding a stumbling block for the team of 12 police officers. For fake documents or stolen identities and paperwork to enter the UK via an airport, the group was charging around £20,000. Investigation leader Detective Chief Inspector Tim Berry told The Sun: 'Our main suspect, who is actively involved in facilitating people into the UK, is generally using false documents of various nationalities. 'To do that he needs a number of people around him to facilitate and support with various elements, such as supplying false documents, booking travel, moving monies — that kind of thing. 'We know that he's offering the full package for around £20,000. It's that profit that motivates organised crime gangs to do this kind of work.' The Manchester force has spent thousands of man hours to identify all the key players in the group, with their tentacles extending as far as Cricklewood. Police believe most of the people who have paid the extortionate fee to travel safely through the air, rather than crammed on a small boat in the Channel, are of Iranian nationality. 7 Det Chief Supt John Griffith from Greater Manchester Police Credit: Greater Manchester Police 7 Fake passports are being sold by callous criminals Credit: Getty But not all the fake documents work, meaning the holders are turned away at the border and sent back to the country they have flown in from. The process of sorting what is sold as safe passage to the UK requires a team of people. DCI Berry explained: 'We have evidence of travel booked by travel agents and our view is that they're doing that knowing that they're acting illegally, rather than blindly. 'We've also arrested people involved in money exchange services because you have to move money across Europe to pay for these documents. 'A lot of the people arrested fall into the logistics and facilitating category rather than being the organiser.' 'Exploitation isn't always visible or physical' But things could be more sinister than just people smuggling — it is possible that the gang is also going on to exploit the people it has helped to enter the country illegally. This would fall under modern slavery, where illegal immigrants are forced to work long hours for low pay or be exploited sexually to pay off their debt. DCS Griffiths said: 'Modern slavery in organised immigration crime is interlinked significantly. For me, organised immigration crime is the primary offence. 'People are coming into the country illegally, and we need to stop that collectively through our police action and partnership action. 'But once people are here, they are tied into the country through debt bondage. 'They get pulled into the grey economy as gangs exploiting these people either utilise their labour or engage them even further in criminal enterprise. 'Ahead of the curve' 'This would be criminality such as drug supply and cannabis farms and other sorts of premises where crimes can be undertaken.' Traditionally, immigration offences were dealt with by the National Crime Agency, Border Force and immigration enforcement officers. But with the flood of illegal migrants by boat and other entry points, local police have been asked to step in too. DCI Berry said: 'In recent years, there's been a real push from the Home Office and from the National Crime Agency for police forces to improve their response to organised immigration crime. 'I would like to think as a force that we're actually fairly ahead of the curve because we have a dedicated team. 'We absolutely do look to take this work on and we're still developing an understanding about our work from an intelligence point of view. 'But wherever we get opportunities to investigate this, we will do — because we recognise the risks around it and the vulnerabilities and the harm that can be caused by it.' Justine Carter, director of strategy and business services at anti-modern slavery group Unseen, said: 'While this is technically smuggling, it sits in a grey area that shares characteristics with modern slavery. 'These cases typically involve recruitment, movement, deception, and significant financial exploitation, which can often lead to debt bondage and long-term vulnerability. 'Even without forced labour, the legal threshold for trafficking may still be met if the acts, means and purpose are present. 'In these cases, the purpose is not labour or sexual exploitation, but financial gain through the exploitation of vulnerable people. 'It's a reminder that exploitation isn't always visible or physical — it can be economic and deeply systemic.' The ten people arrested are being interviewed under suspicion of conspiracy to facilitate a breach of immigration law, assisting illegal entry into the country by non-UK nationals in breach of immigration law, conspiracy to money launder and participating in the activities of organised crime.
