Sinking of Yacht off Sicilian Coast

[Cesarina]

This is of course an absolutely tragic event.
I'm feeling a bit mean by saying this.........but why is it the headline topic on BBC news?
I genuinely feel sorry for those involved, but don't understand why it's the dominant news story?

shocked that 30 million pounds worth of ocean faring vessel can just sink in two minutes, human error or not!

@notimagain the BBC map I shared earlier had some tracking data info from something called Marine Traffic (not sure if this is 'official')

Just before 04:00 local time (02:00 BST) the Bayesian and a nearby yacht (Sir Robert Baden-Powell) start to move, quickly picking up speed further out to sea and away from Porticello harbour.

Less than 15 minutes later, the tracking data for the Bayesian shows that it has suddenly stopped, and the nearby yacht also stops shortly afterwards - just 200m (656ft) away.

The Sir Robert Baden-Powell is then seen moving slowly around in this area, presumably looking to rescue any survivors. The Bayesian is no longer moving, and this is its last recorded position, according to the tracking data.

I didn’t realise the water would have been as warm as 30 odd degrees at night- that’s warmer than the centre parcs pool.

Perini Navi are one of the bigger, highly respected architects and manufacturers. The capt and crew on her will have been of the more experienced end of the industry, as high profile boats can pick and choose.

@PrincessofWells hmmm. I was thinking garage doors, the bulkhead should be watertight as long as the bulkhead door through to the engine room is properly closed. Beach club door perhaps? If the saloon doors were also open that would expose the main companionway.

The crew were up top because she dragged, it's on the AIS track. If the rear garage door was open and the bulkhead door which 'should' be closed that may explain it. If the side garage door was open as well she would go down very quickly.

I've sailed amongst some of these yachts on ours, and they are pretty amazing. Lots of toys.

@PlacidPenelope the crew were on deck because she dragged.

I've sailed amongst some of these yachts on ours, and they are pretty amazing. Lots of toys.

I am sure they are, the pictures are impressive enough.

If the rear garage door was open and the bulkhead door which 'should' be closed that may explain it. If the side garage door was open as well she would go down very quickly.

I would have thought that common sense alone would have determined that those doors should have been shut particularly in bad weather.

Much like idiocy of the Zeebrugge Ferry going out to sea with the cargo doors wide open, it is obvious to even those with no seafaring experience what was likely to happen.

IIRC, the inquest into zeebrugge concluded that the man in charge of that job was incapacitated (drunk?) and recommended adding an alarm to those doors in future.

That certainly was human error.

Or could be mechanical failure that caused the doors to come open or not have shut properly.
I’m sure we’ll know in time.

TBF I might have the wrong accident but wasn’t there was a heck of a lot more to it than just that one man and a door light?

I thought that was the one where the subsequent board revealed the whole operation had been questionable for quite some time and there were errors and neglect pretty much all the way up the management chain.

So much so that charges of corporate manslaughter came into play though I think those were unsuccessful.

That accident and the potential legal action itself didn’t half wake up management in a lot of industries and made more than a few senior people realise you can’t just dump all the blame for an incident/accident on the individual closest to the where the brown stuff hits the fan -something that might or might not be relevant to the accident under debate in this thread.

Not happy reading but might be of interest:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/54c1704ce5274a15b6000025/FormalInvestigation_HeraldofFreeEnterprise-MSA1894.pdf

Zeebrugge was a combination (as ever). The final factor was that there weren't enough baffles below the car deck to prevent the free surface of the water capsizing the ship.

Other threads about this tragedy have been taken out so I say this gingerly, but there are a few things that seem odd here ( like not taking precautions such as staying in harbour when the intense weather had been forecast). Added to that the death of Mike Lynch’s co defendant on the same week, and it’s really quite eerie.

All your questions have already been answered, however:

There are very few harbours that can easily accommodate a vessel of this size at short notice. It's completely normal for large vessels to stand off rather than risk a lee shore. A PP has pointed she dragged her anchor.

The weather forecast was bad but certainly not for the event that appears to have occurred.

The RTA has also been well addressed.

It's an odd coincidence I think, no more than that.

Car accidents happen, I wish they didn’t but they do! It is a tragic loss of an incredible person but something for the family to come to terms with without mindless speculation.

The yacht tragedy is separate and utterly heartbreaking for the families of the lost souls. There needs to be a proper enquiry in to what went wrong as it does seem there are questions to be answered.

I guess that’s right, but the death of Mike Lynch, his Co defendant and their attorney in the same week only two months after winning the case brought against them by Hewlett Packard is so extraordinary that the mind struggles not to see some malevolent force behind it all.

@TheGander Google "Bayesian probability" to be properly weirded out.

I started reading the Wikipedia page but had to bale out so as to avoid total insomnia. Will try again tomorrow.

The MAIB always investigate these where the vessel, or victim(s) are British and/or occur in British waters. They are thorough and the reports are excellent.

@TheGander Mike Lynch, one of his lawyers and one of his bankers being in the same place is a single event, for the purposes of probability. Lynch invited them to the boat; the guests who survived were also linked to him (his wife; the mother of the one year old worked for him in a new venture). I am not sure how often he went out in the yacht vs lending or hiring it out (it was owned through a company as an asset) but at any time he went out in it, he probably did so with important corporate contacts.

It's to do with the probability of a series of events occurring and influencing other events.

This has been a brilliantly informative thread unlike the others, thank you

The death of Mike Lynch and his attorney together really isn't extraordinary given they were on the same boat. The coincidence with the death of the co-defendants is fairly extraordinary, but given the circumstances of that death it comes firmly within the bounds of coincidence and nothing more.

This thread has certainly been informative

Also an event like this shows how your life can change/end in the blink of an eye, regardless of how much is in the bank

Thinking of the families and loved ones of all the victims