Costa Concordia disaster engineer says raising Bayesian is key to solving mystery…but will take months & cost millions
THE engineer who worked on the Costa Concordia disaster has revealed raising the Bayesian must happen to find out why the superyacht sank.
Wreck salvage expert Nick Sloane has warned that even though rescuing the vessel is key to solving the mystery, it could take months to bring it safely to land and cost millions.
The final body has been recovered from the doomed superyacht today after divers continued to scour the wreck.
Brit teen Hannah Lynch was discovered just a day after her dad, Brit billionaire businessman Mike Lynch, 59, was also found.
Guests Jonathan and Judy Bloomer, Chris and Neda Morvillo and the yacht chef Recaldo Thomas have also been found.
Officials confirmed no further passengers are said to be missing.
What caused the sinking £14million vessel is still unknown after it was downed in the early hours of Monday.
Workers are now expected to have to dredge the yacht up from the sea in order to complete their investigation.
Bringing the wreck ashore will give investigators the chance to properly scour the boat as part of their probe.
Nick spoke to the recovery team working in Sicily and says they are all “convinced that the Bayesian should be recovered”.
He said: “An investigation will be necessary to understand what happened and to start it, it is essential that the ship is brought back to the surface intact.”
But the South African sailing expert has warned that it could prove to be a lengthy and costly operation, report La Repubblica.
“I would say up to 15 million euros (£12.7m) but it is probably also possible to spend a little less,” he added.
“In the meantime, the recovery operations of the bodies must now be concluded, which could therefore take four or five days.
“The recovery work can be done in six to eight weeks. In any case, it must be concluded before the second part of October.”
The wreck sits 164ft on the sea floor and is full of debris and water making any recovery plans tricky to navigate.
Nick said the main task will be ensuring the boat remains in one piece as much as possible.
The 246ft aluminium mast of the Bayesian shouldn’t prove to be an issue with Nick saying it could be separated before work begins.
A set of large cranes will be attached to barges which are fixed onto the boat – much like what happened with the Concordia.
The Concordia was a cruise ship that hit a rock underwater and capsized before sinking in the Tyrrhenian Sea, killing 32.
A mammoth effort was launched to save those trapped in the crevices of the cruise liner, resulting in the rescue of over 4,000 people.
Putting the cranes in place can take up to 10 days to sort.
Raising the vessel will also take time as the crane operators will need to carefully lift it up.
Nick said: “This is the most delicate operation and must be done very, very slowly, because the Bayesian is full of water.
“You have to go very slowly, so even a couple of days. The important thing is that when the boat finally reaches the surface the sea is very calm, so you have to study the weather carefully.
“Once on the surface, you also need a special barge to place the boat on and then bring it ashore.”
Around 40 divers will need to be on hand to assist the crane.
A team of technicians are also required for such a precise operation.
It comes as…
- Five bodies were recovered from the yacht wreck including Brit tycoon Mike Lynch
- Final 16 minutes of the doomed Bayesian’s journey revealed through yacht’s ‘black box’
- The CEO of the firm that produced the Bayesian said the boat is ‘unsinkable’ and pointed to human error
- Mr Lynch’s daughter Hannah, 18, presumed missing as search for her continues
- Captain James Cutfield was quizzed for two hours by cops and remains at the centre of a probe
- Experts believe the yacht’s ‘tallest mast in the world‘ may have contributed to the disaster after a freak ‘Black Swan’ weather event struck
- Pictures showed the tiny raft that saved up to 15 people
- Frantic text messages from the survivors revealed the chaos
More details about the disaster surfaced yesterday as emergency workers revealed how the passengers tried to flee the water as it gushed onboard.
Witnesses said the boat’s tall mast was struck by a “tornado” -referring to a swirling cloud-like waterspout caused by a freak storm off the coast of Porticello Harbour.
It toppled the boat causing it to capsize and take on huge amounts of water as it plunged to the bottom of the sea.
Divers said the guests pulled from the wreckage fled their cabins on the right – known as starboard – side of the boat.
They then tried to “climb” to safety by heading for the left – port side – where they were found by divers.
A source working in the investigation told Italian outlet Corriere: “We found them all on that side.
“We had maps with the layout of the cabins and the positions of the guests, and that’s not where we recovered them.”
The CEO of the firm that built the Bayesian told The Sun how crew error could be responsible for the disaster aboard the “unsinkable” boat.
Prosecutors from the nearby town of Termini Imerese spent more than two hours quizzing Kiwi Captain James Cutfield, 51, about the tragedy this week.
Who is Mike Lynch?
FORMER billionaire entrepreneur Mike Lynch was found dead on Thursday morning after a £14m luxury yacht capsized in a tornado off the coast of Sicily on Monday morning.
He is thought to be among the five bodies recovered from the sunken boat alongside Morgan Stanley chief Jonathan Bloomer, his wife Judy, lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda.
The tech tycoon, dubbed “Britain’s Bill Gates”, was one of the 22 people sailing onboard the £166,000 a week vessel.
Lynch, 59, was a serial entrepreneur having founded and sold tech and software companies with one of his biggest being Autonomy Corporation.
He was also been involved in Invoke Capital and cybersecurity company Darktrace.
As well as being awarded an OBE for his services to enterprise in 2006.
Born in Ilford, Lynch had a firefighter father from County Cork and a nurse mother from County Tipperary.
Away from work, Mike was happily married to wife Angela Bacares and the pair had two children together.
Angela is among those who have been rescued on the superyacht.
In 2023, the Sunday Times rich list set the couple’s value at £852m.
But Mike was extradited to the US on fraud charges back in 2023 with a judge setting his bail at £79m.
Just weeks ago, Lynch was acquitted of criminal charges by a jury in San Francisco after a 12-year legal battle over the $11bn sale of his firm, Autonomy, to Hewlett-Packard in 2011.
The doomed yacht, named Bayesian, is also said to be owned by the Lynch family.