(Adnkronos) – “When we intervened, the 15 survivors were already on the lifeboat of the sinking sailing vessel. Their dinghy could, however, hold 12 people but there were 15 of them and it was in danger of going down at any moment. So we reached them with our tender and took them to the Sir Robert. They were very hectic moments, with a storm underway”. These are the words of Karsten Borner, the captain of the Dutch sailing vessel Sir Robert Baden Powell, who with these statements adds an important piece to the investigation opened into the sinking of the Bayesian sailing vessel. Yesterday Borner, a German, was questioned by the prosecutors of Termini Imerese who are investigating for shipwreck, disaster, injuries and manslaughter. And today he left the port of Porticello, where the tragedy occurred at dawn on Monday. “I’m going to Sardinia”, explains Borner again.
Then, he is keen to underline that “he never said that the mainmast of the sailing ship broke before it went down”. “Perhaps I was misunderstood – he said – the mast was intact when the boat sank. I don’t know if it broke during the sinking, but while it was going down it was perfectly intact. It all happened in a few minutes”. Still remembering the tragic moments of that stormy night, Borner said that “my guests also helped and looked after the survivors who were visibly in shock – he says – we gave them dry clothes, because they were shivering from the cold”.
The Coast Guard soon arrived and took the survivors away, including little Sophie, a one-year-old girl who had just turned one on board, along with her parents, James and Charlotte. Asked why the entire crew was on the lifeboat, except for the cook who was later found dead a few hours later, when the crew usually helps passengers in difficulty, Borner replied: “I don’t want to defend the crew but at that moment it was really complicated to go down to bring other passengers up. The boat was sinking, in a few minutes it was gone”.
Karsten Borner returned with his tender to the site of the wreck shortly afterwards, but there was no one in the water. “It was all dark and you couldn’t hear anyone, it was unreal silent, even though it was still raining and hailing and the wind was very strong.”
Here are the 15 survivors of the sinking of the Bayesian ship, which occurred at dawn yesterday in Porticello, in the Palermo area. The survivors, who are now staying at the Domina Zagarella hotel in Santa Flavia, are James Emsilie, 35, with his wife Charlotte Golunski, also 35, and their one-year-old daughter Sophia. Angela Baccares, 57, English, wife of British entrepreneur Mike Lynch who is among the missing together with her 18-year-old daughter Hannah, Sasha Murray, 29, Irish; Myin Htun Kyaw, 39, from Myanmar; Matthew Griffith, 22, French; James Calfield, 51, from New Zealand, who is believed to be the ship’s captain; Ayla Ronald, 36, of English nationality as is Matthew Fletcher, 41; Koopmans Tus, 33, Dutch; Leo Eppel, born in South Africa, 20 years old, and Parker Eaton, English, 56 years old. They are joined by the two hostesses on board the yacht Leah Randall, 20 years old, born in South Africa, and Katja Chicken, 22 years old, German. There are, however, six missing, including the billionaire Mike Lynch and his daughter Hannah, 18 years old. (from the correspondent Elvira Terranova)