SEA TERROR I rescued Bayesian survivors as yacht sank killing trapped Brit tech tycoon & daughter… I know why crew aren’t to blame
In an exclusive chat with The Sun, Captain Karsten Borner reveals what he saw the night the Bayesian sank – and the key piece of evidence he believes proves that the crew were not at fault

IN the pitch-black waters, Captain Karsten Borner heard the cry of a baby amid the lapping of waves against his boat. It was the first thing he and his crew noticed as they came across an orange life raft drifting off the coast of Sicily.

On board were 15 people, silent with shock. Just minutes earlier, they had been on board the Bayesian, the 56-metre-long superyacht owned by British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, sheltering from a storm in a bay.

The vessel had suddenly capsized, flooded with water, and sunk to the Mediterranean seabed 50 metres below on that tragic day on August 19, 2024.

Seven people lost their lives as they were dragged down with it around 4am off the town of Porticello, Sicily – including Mike himself and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah.

Investigations into the sinking of the luxury vessel, famous for its 72-metre-tall mast, are still underway, and a blame game has since erupted.

Last month, Sky News quoted a source connected to the Italian public prosecutor’s office, who revealed they consider the crew at fault, not the weather, and that the storm that night was “little more than a squall”.

Meanwhile, in January, it was revealed that the builders of the Bayesian, the Italian Sea Group, were suing Mike Lynch’s widow and the crew for £400million, claiming they had acted incompetently and that the sinking had caused the firm reputational damage when they were blamed.

The company claims the yacht was “unsinkable” and that the crew failed to secure hatches, heed weather warnings and lower the keel as conditions worsened.

Such treatment of the crew, however, is unfair, Captain Karsten has told The Sun, who says what he saw that night was nothing but bravery.

As the skipper of a sailing ship that was the closest vessel to the doomed superyacht, Captain Karsten was the first to understand the tragedy that had just unfolded as he came to the rescue of the survivors.

Casting his mind back to the day before the sinking, he said: “The weather that day was very calm. The water was like a mirror.”

He was captain of the sailing ship the Sir Robert Baden Powell, which was carrying guests near to where the Bayesian tragedy unfolded.

As reports of strong winds came in, both vessels anchored themselves near Porticello.

“Our guests were interested in seeing the Bayesian, so we circled around it, and they took some photos,” he said.

“We saw the thunderstorms get closer. Around 3.30am, we decided to prepare, closing all our windows and hatches.

“There was nothing unusual about the Bayesian. It was lying there, peacefully. And what we saw was that all the hatches in the hull were closed – you can see it in the photos.”

All boats are designed to handle being thrown from side to side, and, often, to be able to survive capsizing without sinking.

But if hatches, doors, and windows are left open, water will be able to flood in and fill a vessel with water.

Suddenly, the wind picked up, and Captain Karsten was soon occupied with keeping his own vessel safe.

“The wind started, rapid and violent,” he said.

“There was a guy closing a porthole on the port side, and the wind made our ship heel so suddenly that he slid across the room.

“We started to drift towards the Bayesian. We had no concerns about something bad happening to us, but our only concern was drifting onto them.”

Yet unbeknownst to them, disaster was unfolding.

“My first mate said, ‘The lights have gone; they have sunk’. I said it was impossible; they don’t just sink like that. But after a while, we were stood on the rear deck, and in a flash of lightning, I saw a big black triangle.

“As it turned out, this was the front of the Bayesian pointing upwards in the water. But at the time, I didn’t realise it, because we ourselves were busy fighting against the wind. There was a lot of water in the wind too, so it was difficult to breathe.”

Captain Karsten added it was far from a simple squall, as the prosecutors claim.

“In my opinion, it was a tornado. Though they also said it could have been a downpour,” he added.

“After the wind died down, we checked ourselves for damage, and we checked on the radar, and there was no more Bayesian. That’s when we understood something had happened.”

Moments later, they glimpsed red flares shot into the sky by the survivors who had managed to scramble onto a life raft, and Captain Karsten took a tender to go and help.

“At first we found some wreck parts, like cushions and chairs. We continued going in the same direction, and we saw a flickering light. It was the light of a 12-person life raft, with 15 people inside.

“It was very quiet. The only thing we heard was a crying baby.

“My first thought was about how we could bring them to safety. We took them on board and took them back to our ship.

“On the way there, a Latin lady talked in Spanish to me. She was telling me there were more people outside and that we needed to continue searching. So we did.

“But they barely talked at all. Later, I asked the crew how it happened and if they had anything open.

“They said no, everything was shut. And they didn’t talk much more.

Back on his ship, his passengers looked after the surviving guests and crew of the Bayesian as he got in contact with the coastguard.

Meanwhile, his first mate spent the next three hours searching for more survivors.

“Another boat came to pick up the survivors from our boat. But two stayed on board,” he said.

“Mrs Bacares [Mike Lynch’s wife] refused to go. She kept staring at the water because her husband and daughter were down there.”

Almost straight away, fingers started to be pointed at the crew as people looked for an explanation for the tragedy.

But Captain Karsten told The Sun that he saw the hatches shut.

“What made me upset from the beginning was that the shipyard immediately started to blame the crew,” he said.

“But what I saw of the crew was that they were very professional. How they managed to get the life raft out and inflated. To get all those people into the raft.

“To assist with first aid in the raft. It’s quite something.

“They were very brave.”