Experts start complex recovery of a superyacht that sank off Sicily, killing 7

The multi-purpose floating work barge Hebo Lift 2 monitors the stretch of sea off Porticello, near Palermo, Sicily, Italy, Sunday, May 4, 2025, where the British superyacht Bayesian sunk on August 19, 2024 as the operations for its recovery start. (AP Photo/Salvatore Cavalli)

ROME — Marine salvage experts on Sunday began operations to recover from the seabed off Italy’s Sicilian coast the British-flagged superyacht “Bayesian,” which sank last summer, killing U.K. tech magnate Mike Lynch, his daughter and five others.

Operations will be conducted by two floating cranes: “Hebo Lift 2,” which has remotely operated underwater equipment and vehicles, and “Hebo Lift 10,” one of the most powerful maritime cranes in Europe, which docked Saturday in the Sicilian port of Termini Imerese after arriving from Rotterdam.

The Italian coast guard is supervising operations and patrolling the security perimeter to ensure the safety of personnel working on the recovery. It said that the overall operation to retrieve the Bayesian could take from 20 to 25 days. After the wreck is brought ashore, judicial authorities investigating the sinking will examine it.

Prosecutors are investigating the captain and two crew members for possible responsibility in connection with the Aug. 19, 2024, sinking. The 56-metre (183-foot)-long, 473-ton yacht sank during what appears to have been a sudden downburst, or localized powerful wind from a thunderstorm that spreads rapidly after hitting the surface.

The yacht’s 75-metre (246-foot) aluminum mast -- the second tallest in the world — will be cut to allow the hull, which lies 49 metres (160 feet) below the surface, to be brought to the surface more easily, said coast guard Capt. Nicola Silvestri.

In addition to Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, Morgan Stanley International Chairman Jonathan Bloomer and wife Judy, attorney Chris Morvillo and wife Neda, and ship’s cook Recaldo Thomas died in the shipwreck.

With the help of nearby vessels, 15 of the 22 people were rescued in the initial phase, one body was recovered, and six others reported missing. The bodies of the six missing people were found following long and complex search efforts, which continued until Aug. 23.

Giada Zampano And Francesco Sportelli, The Associated Press