THE salvage operation for the Bayesian superyacht that sank off the coast of Sicily has begun.
when Brit billionaire Mike Lynch’s off the coast of Porticello during a storm last summer.
The begun on Sunday and includes floating cranes, remote-controlled robots, and specialist divers.
The Hebo Lift 10 crane is thought to be one of the most powerful in Europe and arrived in Sicily on Saturday from Rotterdam.
The Italian Coast Guard believe the operation could take between 20 and 25 days.
The boat lies 49 meters (160 feet) below the surface on the ocean floor.
The yacht’s 75-meter (246-foot) aluminium mast – the second tallest in the world – will be cut to allow the hull to be brought to the surface more easily, said coast guard Captain Nicola Silvestri.
About ten steel cables will then be threaded underneath the yacht to create a harness to raise it from the seabed.
From there the yacht will be hoisted to the surface in a complex procedure which will probably last two days.
After the wreck is brought ashore, judicial authorities investigating the sinking will examine it.
Marcus Cave, Head of Naval and a Director of TMC Marine, said that the next seven to 10 days would be spent planning.
Then they would begun the underwater work.
The 184ft Bayesian sank while anchored 985ft off the coast of a small fishing port near Palermo.
Among the victims were businessman Mike Lynch, 59, and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah.
Just two months before the disaster, Lynch had been cleared of carrying out a massive fraud over the sale of his software firm Autonomy toin 2011.
The boat trip was a celebration of his acquittal in the case in the US.
Morgan Stanley boss Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy, US lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda, and the yacht’s chef Recaldo Thomas were also killed on board.
Fifteen others were rescued from the yacht on emergency lifeboats.
The accident is still being , with New Zealander captain James Cutfield and two British crew members under investigation by Italian authorities.
Tragically, initial investigations revealed that four victims.
It comes after the boss of the Perini Navi company which built the Bayesian Giovanni Costantino, branded the boat “unsinkable”; and slammed the crew for making key “mistakes”; and failing to “close the doors and hatches.”;
Mr Costantino told The Sun in August : “Modern sailing ships, especially high-tech ones like the Perini, are designed to be extremely safe and stable.
“Even in very critical conditions, if procedures are followed, a sailing yacht like the Bayesian will return to an upright position.
“However, if the ship takes on water, this stability is compromised.
“Where the water entered will be determined by the investigators.
“What is certain is that the ship took on hundreds of thousands of litres of water.”;
He added: “The crew did not handle the adverse weather conditions properly and did not follow the correct procedures to ensure safety.”;
