Watchman woke captain ahead of Sicily yacht sinking: reports

Rome: The sailor on duty the night a superyacht sank off the coast of Sicily last month, killing seven people, had sounded an alarm and woke the capta...

Rome: The sailor on duty the night a superyacht sank off the coast of Sicily last month, killing seven people, had sounded an alarm and woke the captain, Italian press reported Sunday.

Prosecutors on the Italian island have been investigating possible shipwreck and manslaughter charges after the Bayesian sank in a pre-dawn storm on August 19, killing British tech tycoon Mike Lynch, his daughter and five others.

"I monitored the weather conditions all evening" including wind that was coming in around 40 kilometres per hour (25 mph), Matthew Griffiths was quoted by news agency Ansa, which did not provide a source.

"I then immediately woke the captain who took charge of operations. He gave the order to wake the others," he said.

Captain James Cutfield, a 51-year-old New Zealand national, was one of 15 people who survived -- nine of the 10 crew members and six of the 12 passengers.