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THE brave widow of Brit billionaire Mike Lynch has opened up on the final moments before the doomed £14 million Bayesian yacht sank.
Angela Bacares, 58, survived the maritime disaster but lost both her husband and their teenage daughter Hannah.
Angela Bacares has revealed the final moments before the Bayesian sank last year and killed her husband Mike Lynch[/caption]
The couple’s teenage daughter Hannah also died in the disaster[/caption]
Ms Bacares was awakened in the middle of the night when the luxury vessel started to tilt as a storm ripped through Sicily in August of last year.
The 184ft Bayesian sank within a few minutes after being hit by the downburst – a strong, localised wind – while anchored in Porticello near Palermo.
Seven people died including four Brits after a frantic rescue mission.
Speaking just before the one-year anniversary of the tragedy Ms Bacares told Italian prosecutors that when she sat up in bed she was “not worried, just curious”.
As the bad weather continued to rock those on board, Ms Bacares recalled seeing objects beginning to slide around the cabin she was sharing with Mr Lynch.
But the widow says she remained calm and didn’t think they were in a “serious situation”.
This feeling was due to her being caught in another treacherous bout of weather just two weeks earlier in Naples which passed by after some time.
The dangerous winds continued to worsen, according to Ms Bacares, as she later decided to leave her cabin and speak to captain James Cutfield just before 4am.
New Zealander Cutfield and his crew were praised by Ms Bacares in her latest statement as she had always felt “reassured” by their calmness in the bad weather.
But the skipper, 52, was placed under investigation for shipwreck and manslaughter after details of the sinking were uncovered.
Italian prosecutors have also been looking into the ship’s engineer Tim Parker Eaton and nightwatchman Matthew Griffiths.
All three deny any blame as investigations continue.
Ms Bacares says after speaking to the crew she continued to feel calm.
Then “something catastrophic happened”, she said.
She recalls the boat suddenly rolling over on its side as 80mph winds and a tornado-like waterspout battered the mast and left those on boards running for their lives.
As the boat sank rapidly, Ms Bacares was pulled to safety by a crew member unaware of where her loved ones were.
Of the 22 onboard, 15 survived but seven died including Mr Lynch and Hannah, 18.
Divers spent five days scouring the Bayesian wreck to retrieve the bodies of the missing passengers.
They found Mr Lynch and his four guests, Chris and Neda Morvillo and Jonathan and Judy Bloomer, in the first cabin on the left.
Haunting pictures show the aftermath of the Bayesian’s sinking[/caption]
Floating crane ships Hebo LIFT 10 and Hebo LIFT 2 recover part of the Bayesian yacht, June 20[/caption]
Hannah was the last passenger to be discovered in the third cabin.
Officials said the victims had scrambled to reach air pockets in the yacht as it sank stern-first before rolling onto its right side on the seabed.
Businesswoman Angela is now also facing a financial battle.
There is the potential of court action by the families of the victims who died on the yacht — and earlier this week, the UK’s High Court ruled that her husband’s estate owes US tech giant Hewlett-Packard more than £700million relating to fraud claims.
The case was brought six years ago by HP after they acquired his company Autonomy in 2011.
The firm claimed Lynch and the former chief financial officer had fraudulently inflated its value.
While Lynch was facing court action in America, HP was already chasing him through the civil courts in Britain — leading to this week’s damages ruling.
The High Court ruled that HP had paid a lot more than it would have done “had Autonomy’s true financial position been correctly presented” during the sale.
If his estate — which goes to Angela and her remaining daughter Esme, 22 — ends up having to pay, it will almost certainly be bankrupted, leaving no inheritance for the family.
DATA recovered from the Bayesian’s Automatic Identification System (AIS) breaks down exactly how it sank in a painful minute-by-minute timeline.
At 3.50am on Monday August 19 the Bayesian began to shake “dangerously” during a fierce storm, Italian outlet Corriere revealed.
Just minutes later at 3.59am the boat’s anchor gave way, with a source saying the data showed there was “no anchor left to hold”.
After the ferocious weather ripped away the boat’s mooring it was dragged some 358 metres through the water.
By 4am it had began to take on water and was plunged into a blackout, indicating that the waves had reached its generator or even engine room.
At 4.05am the Bayesian fully disappeared underneath the waves.
An emergency GPS signal was finally emitted at 4.06am to the coastguard station in Bari, a city nearby, alerting them that the vessel had sunk.
Early reports suggested the disaster struck around 5am local time off the coast of Porticello Harbour in Palermo, Sicily.
The new data pulled from the boat’s AIS appears to suggest it happened an hour earlier at around 4am.
Some 15 of the 22 onboard were rescued, 11 of them scrambling onto an inflatable life raft that sprung up on the deck.
A smaller nearby boat – named Sir Robert Baden Powell – then helped take those people to shore.
Lynch, 59, died as the yacht sank[/caption]
Divers found the Bayesian earlier this year[/caption]
Is the United Kingdom still a powerful country? The question comes up often, usually with a note of scepticism.
The post Is the United Kingdom still a powerful country? first appeared on UK Defence Journal.