Extreme wind blamed for superyacht sinking that killed 7 last year: probe – National [Video]

The superyacht of British tech magnate Mike Lynch, which capsized last August off the coast of Sicily at the cost of seven lives, was knocked over by “extreme wind” and could not recover, British investigators said Thursday.

Billionaire entrepreneur Lynch, 59, and his daughter Hannah, 18, were among the dead when the 56-metre (184 feet) Bayesian sank Aug. 19 last year. The boat trip was a celebration of Lynch’s acquittal in a fraud case in the U.S. in June.

In an interim report on the disaster, Britain’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch said the boat was “vulnerable” to winds that were even lighter than the ones that tipped it over. The report was based on “a limited amount of verified evidence” as a criminal investigation by Italian authorities has restricted its access to the wreck and other pieces of evidence, it said.

The agency, which is investigating the disaster because the Bayesian was registered in the U.K, said the “vulnerabilities” …