Latest news with #RobcornelisMariaHuijbenUiben
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Yahoo
First major piece of Bayesian superyacht recovered from seabed
Salvage crews have recovered the boom from the $40 million Bayesian luxury yacht, which sank off the coast of Sicily in August 2024, killing seven people, including British billionaire tech tycoon Michael Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah. The boom, which was connected to the 72-meter (236-foot) mast—one of the tallest on any sailboat—is the first known piece of debris to brought out of the water. On May 9, a 39-year-old Dutch specialist diver Robcornelis Maria Huijben Uiben died in an underwater explosion when trying to detach the boom from the vessel, Italian Coast Guard officials said. The recovery of the boom will be part of the forensic investigation into the diver's death, officials told CNN. The 55.9 meter (184-foot) yacht, which still has 18,000 liters of fuel onboard, went down in a sudden storm on August 19 while moored near Porticello, Sicily near Palermo. Fifteen people, including nine crew members, survived. British investigators, who were on the scene days after the accident, published a 'desktop' report last week in which they concluded that the ship sank due to structural problems with the vessel. Italian investigators have publicly dismissed the findings and have told local reporters that until the vessel can be examined once out of the water, no conclusion into the cause of the sinking can be determined. The ship is lying on its starboard side on the seabed, meaning no images have been taken of that part of the vessel to determine its condition. An official with Smit Salvage, which is part of the salvage team led by TMC Marine, told CNN that the hatches appear open, meaning the crew may not have battened down the hatches as the storm approached. One of the crew members posted a video of the storm in the distance, which investigators say shows that they were aware of the weather, according to the British report. No one has been charged with any criminal culpability in the accident, but the ship captain James Cutfield and two other crew members are under investigation for their role in the deaths of the passengers, which included one crew member. The vessel is thought to contain watertight safes in which Lynch kept highly encrypted hard drives. Investigators have told CNN that they cannot verify the existence of any safes or contents until the ship is brought out of the water. The timetable to lift the yacht from the seabed some 50 meters below the surface of the water originally stated that the mast and boom would be left on the seabed until after the hull of the luxury yacht is pulled out of the water. The boom was instead brought out first to aid in the investigation into the salvage diver's death. It is unclear when the mast, which is being cut from the vessel, will be pulled from the water. The hull of the yacht is scheduled to be brought up between May 26 and May 28, weather permitting. Once emptied of water, the wreckage will be lifted by crane to the port of Termini Imerese where it will be sequestered and examined by officials. A full report is expected by the end of the summer.
CNN
20-05-2025
- CNN
First major piece of Bayesian superyacht recovered from seabed
Salvage crews have recovered the boom from the $40 million Bayesian luxury yacht, which sank off the coast of Sicily in August 2024, killing seven people, including British billionaire tech tycoon Michael Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah. The boom, which was connected to the 72-meter (236-foot) mast—one of the tallest on any sailboat—is the first known piece of debris to brought out of the water. On May 9, a 39-year-old Dutch specialist diver Robcornelis Maria Huijben Uiben died in an underwater explosion when trying to detach the boom from the vessel, Italian Coast Guard officials said. The recovery of the boom will be part of the forensic investigation into the diver's death, officials told CNN. The 55.9 meter (184-foot) yacht, which still has 18,000 liters of fuel onboard, went down in a sudden storm on August 19 while moored near Porticello, Sicily near Palermo. Fifteen people, including nine crew members, survived. British investigators, who were on the scene days after the accident, published a 'desktop' report last week in which they concluded that the ship sank due to structural problems with the vessel. Italian investigators have publicly dismissed the findings and have told local reporters that until the vessel can be examined once out of the water, no conclusion into the cause of the sinking can be determined. The ship is lying on its starboard side on the seabed, meaning no images have been taken of that part of the vessel to determine its condition. An official with Smit Salvage, which is part of the salvage team led by TMC Marine, told CNN that the hatches appear open, meaning the crew may not have battened down the hatches as the storm approached. One of the crew members posted a video of the storm in the distance, which investigators say shows that they were aware of the weather, according to the British report. No one has been charged with any criminal culpability in the accident, but the ship captain James Cutfield and two other crew members are under investigation for their role in the deaths of the passengers, which included one crew member. The vessel is thought to contain watertight safes in which Lynch kept highly encrypted hard drives. Investigators have told CNN that they cannot verify the existence of any safes or contents until the ship is brought out of the water. The timetable to lift the yacht from the seabed some 50 meters below the surface of the water originally stated that the mast and boom would be left on the seabed until after the hull of the luxury yacht is pulled out of the water. The boom was instead brought out first to aid in the investigation into the salvage diver's death. It is unclear when the mast, which is being cut from the vessel, will be pulled from the water. The hull of the yacht is scheduled to be brought up between May 26 and May 28, weather permitting. Once emptied of water, the wreckage will be lifted by crane to the port of Termini Imerese where it will be sequestered and examined by officials. A full report is expected by the end of the summer.
CNN
20-05-2025
- CNN
First major piece of Bayesian superyacht recovered from seabed
Salvage crews have recovered the boom from the $40 million Bayesian luxury yacht, which sank off the coast of Sicily in August 2024, killing seven people, including British billionaire tech tycoon Michael Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah. The boom, which was connected to the 72-meter (236-foot) mast—one of the tallest on any sailboat—is the first known piece of debris to brought out of the water. On May 9, a 39-year-old Dutch specialist diver Robcornelis Maria Huijben Uiben died in an underwater explosion when trying to detach the boom from the vessel, Italian Coast Guard officials said. The recovery of the boom will be part of the forensic investigation into the diver's death, officials told CNN. The 55.9 meter (184-foot) yacht, which still has 18,000 liters of fuel onboard, went down in a sudden storm on August 19 while moored near Porticello, Sicily near Palermo. Fifteen people, including nine crew members, survived. British investigators, who were on the scene days after the accident, published a 'desktop' report last week in which they concluded that the ship sank due to structural problems with the vessel. Italian investigators have publicly dismissed the findings and have told local reporters that until the vessel can be examined once out of the water, no conclusion into the cause of the sinking can be determined. The ship is lying on its starboard side on the seabed, meaning no images have been taken of that part of the vessel to determine its condition. An official with Smit Salvage, which is part of the salvage team led by TMC Marine, told CNN that the hatches appear open, meaning the crew may not have battened down the hatches as the storm approached. One of the crew members posted a video of the storm in the distance, which investigators say shows that they were aware of the weather, according to the British report. No one has been charged with any criminal culpability in the accident, but the ship captain James Cutfield and two other crew members are under investigation for their role in the deaths of the passengers, which included one crew member. The vessel is thought to contain watertight safes in which Lynch kept highly encrypted hard drives. Investigators have told CNN that they cannot verify the existence of any safes or contents until the ship is brought out of the water. The timetable to lift the yacht from the seabed some 50 meters below the surface of the water originally stated that the mast and boom would be left on the seabed until after the hull of the luxury yacht is pulled out of the water. The boom was instead brought out first to aid in the investigation into the salvage diver's death. It is unclear when the mast, which is being cut from the vessel, will be pulled from the water. The hull of the yacht is scheduled to be brought up between May 26 and May 28, weather permitting. Once emptied of water, the wreckage will be lifted by crane to the port of Termini Imerese where it will be sequestered and examined by officials. A full report is expected by the end of the summer.
CNN
20-05-2025
- CNN
First major piece of Bayesian superyacht recovered from seabed
Salvage crews have recovered the boom from the $40 million Bayesian luxury yacht, which sank off the coast of Sicily in August 2024, killing seven people, including British billionaire tech tycoon Michael Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah. The boom, which was connected to the 72-meter (236-foot) mast—one of the tallest on any sailboat—is the first known piece of debris to brought out of the water. On May 9, a 39-year-old Dutch specialist diver Robcornelis Maria Huijben Uiben died in an underwater explosion when trying to detach the boom from the vessel, Italian Coast Guard officials said. The recovery of the boom will be part of the forensic investigation into the diver's death, officials told CNN. The 55.9 meter (184-foot) yacht, which still has 18,000 liters of fuel onboard, went down in a sudden storm on August 19 while moored near Porticello, Sicily near Palermo. Fifteen people, including nine crew members, survived. British investigators, who were on the scene days after the accident, published a 'desktop' report last week in which they concluded that the ship sank due to structural problems with the vessel. Italian investigators have publicly dismissed the findings and have told local reporters that until the vessel can be examined once out of the water, no conclusion into the cause of the sinking can be determined. The ship is lying on its starboard side on the seabed, meaning no images have been taken of that part of the vessel to determine its condition. An official with Smit Salvage, which is part of the salvage team led by TMC Marine, told CNN that the hatches appear open, meaning the crew may not have battened down the hatches as the storm approached. One of the crew members posted a video of the storm in the distance, which investigators say shows that they were aware of the weather, according to the British report. No one has been charged with any criminal culpability in the accident, but the ship captain James Cutfield and two other crew members are under investigation for their role in the deaths of the passengers, which included one crew member. The vessel is thought to contain watertight safes in which Lynch kept highly encrypted hard drives. Investigators have told CNN that they cannot verify the existence of any safes or contents until the ship is brought out of the water. The timetable to lift the yacht from the seabed some 50 meters below the surface of the water originally stated that the mast and boom would be left on the seabed until after the hull of the luxury yacht is pulled out of the water. The boom was instead brought out first to aid in the investigation into the salvage diver's death. It is unclear when the mast, which is being cut from the vessel, will be pulled from the water. The hull of the yacht is scheduled to be brought up between May 26 and May 28, weather permitting. Once emptied of water, the wreckage will be lifted by crane to the port of Termini Imerese where it will be sequestered and examined by officials. A full report is expected by the end of the summer.
Daily Mirror
09-05-2025
- Daily Mirror
Diver, 39, dies working to recover Mike Lynch's sunken superyacht
The salvage operation to recover the Bayesian superyacht started last week and includes floating cranes, remote-controlled robots, and specialist divers amongst other marine experts A diver working on recovering tech tycoon Mike Lynch's sunken £14million superyacht has died - just days after recovery operations begun. On August 19 last year the Bayesian superyacht, sank during a storm off the coast of Sicily killing 59-year-old Brit billionaire Mike Lynch his 18-year-old daughter and five others. Officials in Italy are planning to pull up the superyacht wreckage in the hope they can find more answers about what happened. Of the 22 onboard at the time of the disaster, 15 survived with 11 - including Mike Lynch's wife - rescued on an inflatable life raft. The incident was being treated as suspected manslaughter. Salvage operations to recover the boat, which currently lies 160ft below the surface on the ocean floor, have begun. When raised, the Bayesian will be taken to Termini Imerse, a nearby port, where it will be inspected. Footage from the shipwreck showed divers pushing through trashed corridors and rooms inside the ship which is currently lying on its starboard side. The salvage operation includes floating cranes, remote-controlled robots, and specialist divers amongst other marine experts. Dutch firm SMIT Salvage is just one of the firms involved in the recovery of the 56-metre (184ft) superyacht. Tragically, Robcornelis Maria Huijben Uiben, 39, reportedly died when working alongside other recovery workers to cut the boom of the yacht. The diver, who is thought to be a Dutch national, was pronounced dead on Friday afternoon and is believed to have been working for Dutch firm SMIT Salvage. Local media speculated that the man was hit by part of the cut boom as it came off whilst he was underwater. But police said they have launched a probe to understand what exactly caused the man's death. According to other local media reports, an underwater explosion was heard by at least one person before the man was found dead, reports The Sun. The gruelling recovery operation, which began just days earlier on May 4, was paused when the alarm was raised and the man's body was recovered. On the dock, coastguards and the main prosecutor working on the case, Raffaele Cammarano, were present. The vessel is due to be lifted to an upright position and brought to the surface in about two weeks. The operation's conclusion will hopefully shed light on how the supposedly unsinkable superyacht sank. Officials are now investigating three crew members are being investigated in Sicily after being accused of leaving open the door at the rear port side and causing water to enter the yacht and flood it. The vessel sank during a celebration of Mr Lynch's acquittal over alleged fraud following the sale of his software firm Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard in 2011.
