The Termini Imerese Prosecutor’s Office has put James Cutfield, the captain of the luxury sailboat that shipwrecked off the coast of Palermo, on the Italian island of Sicily, on its list of suspects. The New Zealand skipper is accused of shipwreck and multiple homicide.
He captain of the BayesianJames Cutfield, the luxury yacht that sank last Monday in Porticello, near Palermo, is being investigated for shipwreck and multiple homicide. in the accident seven people died.
The New Zealand skipper appeared on Sunday during two hours before the magistrates of the Prosecutor’s Office of Termini Imerese. It was the second time in a week that Cutfield appeared before magistrates.
Points pending clarification
Regarding the content of the hearing, the Prosecutor’s Office maintains maximum confidentiality. The hearing lasted more than two hours, during which the yacht manager responded to questions about whether or not the hatch separating the engine room had been opened, about the position of the mobile daggerboard. And finally, what happened between 3:50 a.m., when the weather conditions began to worsen, and 4:06 a.m., when the alarm sounded. automatic sinking signal.
There are also doubts about why did 32 minutes pass? (4:38) between the sinking timeset at exactly 4:06, and the launching of the signaling flare.
The magistrates would also have requested clarifications about the contacts between the captain and the crew member in charge of weather warnings, the situation of the ship and the button to seal all the doors of the ship.
Although Cutfield was initially heard as a person with information about the events, his position changed after listening to the other witnesses and seeing the underwater images of the shipwreck. It is not ruled out that in the coming days other crew members are investigated.
Autopsies of shipwreck victims begin on Tuesday
Autopsies are scheduled to begin Tuesday and continue until Thursday. The autopsies will be carried out at the polyclinic of Palermo.
Two bodies are found in the forensic medicine institute of the university hospital and the other five in the Rotoli cemetery. The bodies of the British tycoon will be examined Mike Lynch and that of his 18-year-old daughter, Hannah, as well as that of Jonathan Bloomer, president of Morgan Stanley International, his wife Anne Elizabeth, lawyer and former New York prosecutor Chris Morvillo, his wife Nada and chef Thomas Recaldo.
