How did Mike Lynch's superyacht the Bayesian sink so quickly? ITV1 documentary examines the facts
How did a supposedly "unsinkable" superyacht go down in less than 20 minutes, causing the death of seven people on board?
That is the question a new ITV1 documentary seeks to answer, examining the factors that may have led to the sinking of the Bayesian, the vessel belonging to the British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch.
The hour-long special - entitled The sinking of a superyacht: How safe is your voyage? - was broadcast on Thursday on ITV1 and ITVX.
The documentary discusses how the supposedly "unsinkable" yacht became submerged so quickly, with the possibility that doors were left open overnight to help with "overnight heat" among the theories.
Once the boat rolled over during a storm on 19 August, it was submerged within 16 minutes, according to the documentary.
Fifteen of the 22 passengers onboard the yacht managed to flee to a lifeboat but the other seven, including Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah died.
The chairman of the Maritime Search and Rescue Council, Matthew Schanck, discussed the various factors that could have contributed to the sinking of the yacht.
He said: "In terms of an investigation, there’d be a couple of key elements that I’d be looking out for. One of them would be the position of the keel, whether the keel was fully deployed, half deployed or stowed away.
"The second thing which is going to be of consideration would be the watertight integrity of the vessel.
"There is some speculation that due to the overnight heat, hatches were left open meaning the super yacht could take on water. I'd be looking at the doors on the stern or the back of the vessel were left open."
Yacht design experts suggest it is "puzzling" that the Bayesian sank so quickly without any major failure identified.
Dr Jean-Baptiste Souppez, a yacht design expert at Aston University, said: "The Bayesian is built to very strict rules and regulations. Some of them cover the stability of the vessel, and as part of this, the vessel has to be sub-divided into water-tight compartments.
"The idea being, should one of those compartments be ruptured and water flood inside, the vessel should remain afloat. In the case of the Bayesian, they have five sub-compartments.
"For a vessel like the Bayesian to sink so quickly without any major failure is very puzzling. It really hits as water finding its way on board in multiple compartments."
In the documentary, the chief executive of the company which built the yacht, Giovanni Costantino, defends the boat.
He claims that Perini sailing ships are "the safest in the absolute sense and thanks to the structure and the drift keep, they become unsinkable bodies".
Inquests into the deaths of Mr Lynch, his daughter Hannah, 18, friend Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy Bloomer were opened and adjourned in Ipswich on Friday.
Mr Lynch's cause of death was given as drowning, while the other three deaths were "under investigation", Det Supt Mike Brown of Suffolk Police told the inquest.
An investigation had been started by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) to understand how the Bayesian sank and the Italian authorities have started their own independent criminal investigations, the inquest was told.
The Bayesian crew have not spoken publicly about the tragedy since the investigation started.
Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know