Italian prosecutors open shipwreck and manslaughter investigation into superyacht sinking

ROME (AP) — Prosecutors in Italy said Saturday they have opened an investigation into culpable shipwreck and multiple manslaughter after a superyacht capsized during a storm off the coast of Sicily, killing seven people onboard. They included British tech magnate Mike Lynch and his daughter.

Termini Imerese prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio confirmed the investigation has been launched, but hasn't identified a suspect.

“We are only in the initial phase of the investigation. We can’t exclude any sort of development at present,” he told reporters at a news conference.

Cartosio said his team will carefully consider each possible element of responsibility, including those of the Bayesian's captain, the crew, individuals in charge of supervision, the yacht's manufacturer and others.

“For me, it is probable that offences were committed, that it could be a case of manslaughter, but we can only establish that if you give us the time to investigate," he said.

The main question investigators are focusing on is how a sailing vessel deemed “unsinkable” by its manufacturer, Italian shipyard Perini Navi, sank while a nearby sailboat remained largely unscathed.

Prosecutors said the event was “extremely rapid” and could have been a “downburst” — localized, powerful wind that descends from a thunderstorm and spreads out rapidly upon hitting the ground.

Initially, civil protection officials said they believe the yacht, which featured a distinctive 75-meter (246-feet) aluminum mast, was struck by a tornado over the water, known as a waterspout.

Investigators were also asked why the crew was almost entirely saved, except for the chef, while six passengers remained trapped in the hull.

Local official confirmed that most of the bodies recovered were found in the same part of the yacht — on the left side and closer to the surface — suggesting that passengers had sought safety in the cabins where the last air bubbles had formed.

Deputy Prosecutor Raffaele Cammarano said it was likely that the passengers were asleep, adding that one of the main focus of the investigation is to ascertain whether they were alerted by someone.

Cammarano confirmed that one person was on watch in the cockpit.

Rescuers on Friday brought ashore the last of seven bodies from the sinking of the Bayesian, a 56-meter (184-foot) British-flagged luxury yacht that went down in a storm near the Mediterranean island in southern Italy early Monday. The sailboat was carrying a crew of 10 people and 12 passengers.

The seventh victim was Hannah Lynch, 18, the daughter of Mike Lynch., whose body was recovered Thursday. He had been celebrating his recent acquittal on fraud charges with his family and the people who had defended him at trial in the United States. His wife, Angela Bacares, was among the 15 survivors.

Rescuers struggled for four days to find all the bodies, making only slow headway through the interior of the wreck lying on the seabed 50 meters (164 feet) below the surface.

Prosecutors said the recovery of the Bayesian will be crucial for the investigation, but noted it will be a long and complex process, which will be paid for by the owners.

The other five victims are Christopher Morvillo, one of Lynch’s U.S. lawyers, and his wife, Neda; Jonathan Bloomer, chairman of Morgan Stanley’s London-based investment banking subsidiary, and his wife, Judy; and Recaldo Thomas, the yacht’s chef.

Italian Prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio, background center, attends a press conference on the shipwreck of the Bayesian in Termini Imerese, Sicily, Aug. 24, 2024. (Raffaele Macauda/LaPresse via AP)

Italian Prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio, center, attends a press conference on the shipwreck of the Bayesian in Termini Imerese, Sicily, Aug. 24, 2024. (Raffaele Macauda/LaPresse via AP)

Italian Prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio, right, attends a press conference on the shipwreck of the Bayesian in Termini Imerese, Sicily, Aug. 24, 2024. (Raffaele Macauda/LaPresse via AP)

This undated photo provided by the Lynch family shows Hannah Lynch. (Courtesy of the Lynch family via AP)

This undated photo provided by the Lynch family shows Hannah Lynch and Faucet. (Courtesy of the Lynch family via AP)

This undated photo provided by the Lynch family shows Mike and Hannah Lynch. (Courtesy of the Lynch family via AP)

This picture released by the Italian Firefighters on Friday, Aug. 23, 2024, shows a firefighter cave diver as he prepares to reach the wrecked luxury superyacht Bayesian that sunk early Monday off the Sicilian coast in Porticciolo, in southern Italy. (Vigili del Fuoco via AP, HO)

Italian Navy scuba divers work at the scene of the search for a missing boat, in Porticello, southern Italy, Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024. Rescue teams and divers returned to the site of a storm-sunken super yacht to search for one person, who are believed to be still trapped in the hull 50 meters (164-feet) underwater. (AP Photo/Salvatore Cavalli)

Italian firefighter divers bring ashore in a plastic bag the body of one of the victims of a shipwreck, in Porticello, Sicily, southern Italy, Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024. Divers searching the wreck of the superyacht Bayesian that sank off Sicily on Monday recovered a fifth body on Thursday and continued to search for one more as investigators sought to learn why the vessel sank so quickly. (AP Photo/Salvatore Cavalli)

Italian firefighter divers bring ashore in a plastic bag the body of one of the victims of a shipwreck, in Porticello, Sicily, southern Italy, Friday Aug. 23, 2024. Italian rescuers brought ashore the body of the final missing person who was on a superyacht that sunk off the coast of Sicily. (Alberto Lo Bianco/LaPresse via AP)

Italian firefighter divers bring ashore in a plastic bag the body of one of the victims of a shipwreck, in Porticello, Sicily, southern Italy, Friday Aug. 23, 2024. Italian rescuers brought ashore the body of the final missing person who was on a superyacht that sunk off the coast of Sicily. (Alberto Lo Bianco/LaPresse via AP)

Italian firefighter divers bring ashore in a plastic bag the body of one of the victims of a shipwreck, in Porticello, Sicily, southern Italy, Friday Aug. 23, 2024. Italian rescuers brought ashore the body of the final missing person who was on a superyacht that sunk off the coast of Sicily. (Alberto Lo Bianco/LaPresse via AP)

BROOMFIELD, Colo. (AP) — A suspect in a shooting at an apartment complex near Denver was taken into custody Thursday and transported to a hospital along with a female victim after a four-hour standoff during which gunfire hit cars, other buildings and apartment units, police said.

After officers negotiated with the suspect for 3 1/2 hours, they forced their way into the apartment at the Arista Flats complex in Broomfield where he was holding a woman hostage and arrested him, said Rachel Haslett, a spokeswoman for the Broomfield police department.

Haslett said an officer fired his weapon inside the apartment, but she didn't say whether it struck anyone.

“He was threatening to hurt people,” said Haslett, who didn't release the suspect's name or age and didn't know what weapons he might have used.

The suspect and female victim were taken to a hospital, Haslett said. The nature of their injuries weren't immediately known.

Police responded to reports of gunfire at the apartment complex as people were getting ready for work in Broomfield is a mostly middle-class city of about 75,000 people roughly 15 miles (24 kilometers) northwest of Denver.

Authorities sent out a phone alert warning residents to shelter in place or evacuate from the area.

Haslett said she didn't know how many shots were fired during the standoff.

“But I will tell you, they were fired sporadically throughout the process so we wouldn’t hear them for a while. And then another shot would be fired. So it wasn’t all at once,” she told reporters.

Heather Tallant said she was walking her dog outside her room when a bullet or projectile flew over her head and smashed into her bedroom window.

“I saw it hit my window, and that was me just gone,” said Tallant, who ran barefoot from the building past the police line after the shooting ended. “I got shot at,” she said, dropping to sit on the ground.

Nate Schamel, who lives across the street from the Arista Flats, told The Associated Press that he first heard sirens at around 6:45 a.m.

“I heard more and went outside onto my balcony. I saw a Broomfield Pd officer pull up across the street from me, get out with his rifle, cock it and start trotting down the street. I asked what was going on and he told me to go inside,” Schamel said in a text.

He said at 7:30, he called down to an officer who was next to his home and asked what was going on, and the officer told him and his wife to evacuate.

“This was after we had already heard multiple bursts of gunfire (from what sounded like multiple different weapons) and as we were leaving we heard 4-5 more bursts of gunfire,” he wrote.

Amy Johnson Kemner, who lives on the floor above the suspects unit, said she was lying in bed when she heard loud banging that sounded like nails being hammered into floorboards. Then she heard sirens.

“Then I heard really loud banging that didn’t sound like someone was nailing,” she said.

Kemner, 46, said that while going down the stairs, she was met with screams from a SWAT team telling her to barricade herself inside her apartment.

This story was updated to correct the spelling of Rachel Haslett's name, which had been misspelled “Hazlett” in once instance.

Hanson reported from Helena, Montana.

Law enforcement officials at the scene of a shooting in an apartment complex early Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Broomfield, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)