Clearly visible through the murky depths 150ft below the surface, this is the first time British superyacht Bayesian has been seen since it sank beneath the waves last August.
Captured in astonishing detail by a renowned photographer, it shows the gold letters of the doomed vessel’s name still proudly displayed on the submerged stern.
After just nine months at the bottom of the Mediterranean, the images also show how the wreck is already being reclaimed by nature, with seaweed colonising its once-pristine deck as fish explore the new habitat.
As investigations continue into how the ‘unsinkable’ £30million yacht could sink so suddenly – with the loss of seven lives, including those of British billionaire Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah – the images appear to rule out one theory.
According to photographer Massimo Sestini, who captured these exclusive images, the Bayesian’s stern hatch remains firmly closed.
That is despite the initial claim by shipbuilders that it had been left open on the night of the tragedy, allowing water to surge in when a freak storm struck.
His photos also show how the wreck lies largely intact on the sea bed off the coast of Sicily as a £20million salvage operation continues to raise it to the surface.
The Bayesian – famous for its trademark 236ft mast, one of the world’s tallest – took just 16 minutes to sink in the early hours of the morning.
Clearly visible in the gloom 150ft below the surface of the sea, gold lettering marks out the name of the doomed Bayesian super-yacht
Italian coastguard divers check their pressure gauges – at 150ft below sea level they can only spend around ten minutes examining the wreck of the Bayesian
Italian coastguard divers swim past the starboard bulkhead in the first images from the wreck of the Bayesian
Although the Bayesian’s tragic sinking with the loss of seven lives happened just nine months ago, Massimo Sestini’s images show how the wreck is already being colonised by seaweed and fish
The Bayesian went down in a matter of minutes after being struck by the freak storm while anchored off the coast at Porticello, near Palermo in Sicily
It had been hit by a fierce storm with 100mph winds while at anchor off the fishing village of Porticello.
Earlier this month an interim report by British investigators highlighted ‘vulnerabilities’ in the yacht’s stability which meant its crew were unable to prevent the 184ft luxury sailing boat from tilting violently on its side.
The captain and crew would have been unaware as the information was not laid out in a safety booklet onboard, the Marine Accident Investigation Branch said.
Earlier this month the vessel – which locals say is cursed – claimed the life of an eighth person, a Dutch diver who was working on the £20million salvage operation.
In response, all manned diving operations were temporarily suspended, with exploration instead carried out by undersea robots.
Diving the wreck before the latest tragedy, Mr Sestini said conditions on the seabed were treacherous.
A lack of sunlight at that depth combined with sediment swirling in the current combined to reduce visibility to as little as one metre.
‘When I connected my camera to the computer and saw the images of the wreck on the screen, my heart sank,’ said the photographer, who himself almost drowned while diving beneath a frozen Italian lake earlier this year.
Divers point to the Bayesian’s name as investigations continue into the luxury super-yacht’s tragic sinking in a freak storm off the coast of Sicily last August
The once pristine guardrails and deck of the ‘unsinkable’ £30million Bayesian are already being reclaimed by nature
Divers can only spend ten minutes at a time on the wreck – with the dangers of the unforgiving conditions and poor visibility 150ft below the surface underlined by the tragic loss of a Dutch diver on May 9 during recovery efforts
Coastguard vessels off the coast of the Sicilian fishing village of Porticello from which divers have been examining the wreck of the Bayesian
Sicilian fishermen say the benign waters of the Mediterranean on a calm day belie the fearsome winds which can be whipped up by sudden storms
His photographs of the Bayesian’s wreck shows its sinking was ‘truly a great mystery’, he told Italian publication Oggi.
‘The wreck seems intact,’ he added.
Mr Sestini said while it was ‘said at the beginning’ that an open stern hatch caused ‘huge amounts’ of water to inundate the yacht when the storm struck, ‘my photos show that the door is closed’.
Within days of the disaster on August 19 last year, the CEO of Italian Sea Group – which bought the Bayesian’s constructors Perini Navi two years ago – blamed ‘human error’.
The stern hatch was ‘clearly’ open, Giovanni Costantino told Italian media.
The firm has yet to comment on the MAIB report.
Bayesian was legally owned by Mr Lynch’s wife Angela Bacares, who survived the disaster.
The other victims were banking executive Jonathan Bloomer, his wife Judy Bloomer, lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda Morvillo and the yacht’s chef, Recaldo Thomas.
The tragic 184ft super yacht had ‘vulnerabilities’ which made it unstable in the violent storm, according to an interim safety report about which the shipbuilders have yet to comment
The tragedy last August killed seven people including British billionaire and tech tycoon Mike Lynch and his daughter Hannah
Jonathan Bloomer, 70, and his wife Judy, 71, from Kent, were among the seven people who died when the 56m yacht sank
The moment the doomed Bayesian sank in the early hours of August 19 last year was captured by security cameras of a nearby villa on the coast
Three crew members are currently facing possible charges of manslaughter and causing a disaster under an Italian criminal investigation.
However Under Italian law the fact the men – captain James Cutfield, chief engineer Timothy Parker Eaton and deckhand Matthew Griffiths – have been placed under investigation does not imply guilt and does not necessarily mean that charges will be brought against them.
