'That damned night' Sicilian fishing village waits for sea to reveal mystery of sunken superyacht

Some say that the late tech tycoon Mike Lynch's superyacht, Bayesian, sank because it was vulnerable to high winds that drove the vessel past its point of stability. Others insist that a chain of human errors led to the incident that claimed seven lives, including that of Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter, Hannah.

- Lorenzo Tondo

But in the quiet Sicilian fishing village of Porticello, where on 19 August 2024 the Bayesian was caught before dawn in a violent storm while anchored off the coast, everyone knows the truth lies 50 metres below the surface, in the wreckage that divers, floating cranes and underwater drones are still struggling to bring back.

"Until then, before the vessel is brought back to the surface and examined by investigators, the causes behind this tragedy will remain a mystery," says Pietro Guida, 68, who each morning watches the recovery efforts from the breakwater of Porticello's pier as he waits for a fish to bite his line.

In front of him, towering floating cranes dominate the seascape. They have been at work for weeks. From time to time, divers emerge from the water and are pulled onboard a motorboat, where fresh divers prepare to take their place.

On 9 May, a Dutch diver died while working underwater in preparation to cut the ship's mainmast, with operations suspended for about a week. His death has shaken the community, where people had already labelled the sinking "the Bayesian curse".

The label has extended beyond the incident itself. Driven by intense media coverage, the coastline has also come under scrutiny - depicted on social media as a sort of Bermuda Triangle, a place sailors are being advised to avoid.