Crew Member on Watch Duty Claims He Was ‘Walking on Walls’ to Save Passengers

A crew member from the British yacht “Bayesian,” owned by tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, has spoken out about the tragic sinking of the vessel off the coast of Porticello, Sicily, earlier this month.

Matthew Griffiths, who was on watch duty during the incident, recounted to prosecutors how he alerted the yacht’s captain when strong winds began to pick up. According to Griffiths, the wind had escalated to 20 knots at the time.

Upon being alerted, the captain directed Griffiths to wake the rest of the crew. Griffiths then proceeded to secure the yacht by storing away items like pillows and plants, and closing windows in the sitting area as well as some hatches.

Despite the chaotic conditions, Griffiths found himself thrown into the water as the ship began to tilt. He managed to climb back on board and described a frantic scene where he and other crew members were forced to navigate the tilting vessel almost like “walking on the walls” in an effort to save anyone still aboard.

Griffiths, along with the yacht’s captain James Cutfield and engineer Tim Parker Eaton, is currently under investigation in connection with the sinking. The Italian news agency ANSA reported that both Griffiths and Parker Eaton’s lawyers may seek “technical consultancies” to better understand the circumstances surrounding the tragic shipwreck.

The public prosecutor’s office in Termini Imerese, led by Ambrogio Cartosio, has opened an inquiry into the incident, tracking a potential “crime hypothesis” that includes culpable shipwreck and manslaughter.

Experts have expressed their concern, noting that the state-of-the-art yacht was not expected to sink so quickly or easily under the conditions reported.

The sinking of the Bayesian resulted in the deaths of seven people, with some notable victims including Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter, Hannah.

Griffiths shared that Cutfield played a heroic role by rescuing a young girl and her mother amidst the chaos, referring to them as Charlotte Golunski and her one-year-old daughter.

Mike Lynch, known for founding Autonomy, was celebrating his recent acquittal in a fraud trial aboard the yacht with friends and family. Meanwhile, Stephen Chamberlain, a former vice president of finance at Autonomy and a codefendant in Lynch’s fraud case, tragically died in a separate incident just days before the yacht sank.

The investigation into this maritime disaster continues as the authorities piece together the events leading up to the sinking and the safety measures that could have potentially prevented such a tragedy.

Source: Business Insider