Super yacht sinking - did the crew bravely survive or did they abandon their the passengers

[mids2019]

So....most of the crew survived this tragedy but the passengers died. Do you think it will emerge the crew should have e done more to alrt the passengers and indeed put their lives in danger to attempt a rescue? Maybe it was all just too fast?

I just think there seems silence from the crew at moment despite being survivors of a sinking vessel who have a story to tell. Are lawyers advising they stay quiet on this?

Errr, we’ll, no, actually you do see reference to vertical windspeeds in some circumstances and some texts.

FWIW was merely trying to emphasise vertical flow becomes horizontal flow..which some folks would recognize as wind.

if it's true when people state the keel wasn't fully down in this situation

No one should be stating anything yet, I think. The boat was 50m down and the efforts so far were search and recovery - divers and underwater robots were focused on the cabins.

Presumably the keel position will be an area of investigation.

That's what I was thinking about two anchors@MtClair and v. interesting thanks, we don't know the size of the engine on this boat.

It’s a sailing boat. It’s not supposed to have strong engines like a motor boat would have.

Wth that’s horrific

Survivors claimed the man carried out the unspeakable attack after seeing his wife and daughter drown, Italian media reports, 'venting' his fury on the helpless 16-year-old girl.

All over the world men really seem to think it’s acceptable to deal with their trauma by killing or raping or hurting women. Imagine he just seen his daughter and wife die and the first thing he did is rape a teenager as the boat is sinking?? Like what 😵‍💫

@MtClair Well yes, but it's not a typical sailing boat either.
I'd really want to know what the captain was trying to do.

Most maritime accidents are normal accidents:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_Accidents

This where lots of small human errors add up to a big catastrophe. Each decision on its own seems inconsequential, and the actors aren’t aware of other people’s decisions which are amplifying risk.

I would expect the captain and chief mate to organise all the occupants to abandon ship. But not if it only took a minute flat to sink. There would gave been nothing to organise. I would never expect non-nautical crew to do so. They are effectively as helpless as the other occupants.

I think it’s likely everyone would have survived if
-they battened down the hatches
-lifted the anchor
-dropped the keel
-sailed away from land

Why didn’t they? Time of night? Comfort of passengers? Unaware of the weather report? Problems with the engines? Insouciance?

We’ll have to wait for these answers. I feel sorry for them all.

Most sailing yachts of that size are basically power boats with a sail on top, they absolutely have hefty engines and bow thrusters etc.

@seeminglyranch “If you’re travelling on a commercial flight or boat and there’s an issue, wouldn’t you expect help from the crew to escape given their training and knowledge of safety procedures?”

Crew would be expected to help, but no one these days is expected to ‘go down with the ship.’ I work in aviation, and we are specifically told that we are expected to do as much as we can to help passengers and other crew but NOT to put our lives in danger. If we were to have an incident on an aircraft which we somehow survived and successfully evacuated, the people best placed to action the next steps of a survival, rescue and aftermath situation are the trained crew, and it would be very awkward if they were dead or incapacitated due to going back into a catastrophic situation to try and rescue people.

The other thing we have drilled into us is do not talk to anyone, especially the press, until all the facts have been ascertained and we have permission to talk. In most companies talking to the press about an incident will be a sackable offence.

Yes, a state of the art HVAC system no doubt and in fact the last thing they want is any openings to allow conditioned air to escape. This will be powered by an electrical system featuring redundant generators. A little 24ft yacht this is not.

The mum on deck sleeping with her baby, and all the hatches open point to a hot night and no air-con. This points to a problem with the engines.

That's a horror as is the fact that more than 1000 people have drowned crossing the med this year, so the coverage of the yacht accident can feel a little disproportionate, for all the loved ones grieving, their own personal loss must be horrific.

Given the conditions the captain should have called an emergency and had everyone with life jackets. It didn’t happen in 2 mins

Or someone requested it turned off. Only the inquiry will be able say what happened and what should have been done.

Has there actually been any evidence there were open hatches other than the fact the ship went down fast, which could equally be a physical failure rather than neglect?
Dh has read an article in the Financial Times which interviewed the captain and crew of other vessels in the area and apparently (anyone who has read this for themselves please correct any errors in my second hand account) this says that they are very angry at the attempts by the boat manufacturer to smear the captain and crew of the Bayesian, that all hatches including the tender door were shut, that they consider the instability of the ship due to her massive mast to be a more likely cause, that the Bayesian captain was competent and well respected.

I think the crew, at least the captain, are legally responsible for the passengers, so are supposed to evacuate them before they get themselves to safety.

I think @backinthebox explained things quite well upthread (well as far the aviation industry goes, and there are lots of parallels between the aviation and maritime industry)

Yes the captain is responsible for welfare of passengers and crew, that means,and I quote “they and the rest of the crew are expected to do as much as we can to help passengers and other crew but NOT to put our lives in danger”.

The divers should be able to provide pretty useful evidence on these points too.

The divers should be able to provide pretty useful evidence on these points too.

It sounds as though it did. Some wind force lifted the boat and slammed it down; two minutes later it was underwater. According to the eyewitness accounts I've read.

I know it’s unfashionable but I think you can place much if any value on supposed eye witness reports at this stage.

Eye witness reports of accidents are notoriously unreliable, especially when it comes to timing…one persons 2 minutes can be another person’s half an hour..one persons gust of wind can be another’s hurricane.

Edit to add:

https://www.airproxrealitycheck.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Reliability-of-eyewitness-reports-to-a-major-aviation-accident.pdf

I think if a fisherman standing on shore says it sank in two minutes, I'm inclined to believe him. Also the sailors on the nearby craft.

These aren't distracted shoppers recounting a random supermarket robbery. They are trained people who are familiar with watercraft, that bay and weather.

That's the myth bit I think. Now that the enquiry/investigation is underway we'll find out.

Not least as everyone always wants someone to blame.

The sailors will have been battling with their own craft too. When I have been in sketchy weather conditions on yachts I have only been looking at other yachts from the perspective of " are we likely to hit them"

I think it is just speculation about the hatches being open and also the mast breaking.
It must have been truly terrifying for everyone on board. I haven't read elsewhere but previous posters have said that 5 of the dead were all in one cabin below deck so they must have been terrified. What a terrible tragedy and maybe it is nobody's fault, just shocking weather and no time to react.