A commercial diver has died during preliminary operations to recover the superyacht Bayesian, which sank off the coast of Sicily in August 2024 with the loss of seven lives, including its owner, British tech tycoon Mike Lynch, and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah.
The diver has been named as 39-year-old Dutch national Rob Huijben, who was working for the Dutch SMIT Salvage team at the time of the incident.
Huijben died while using an underwater cutting torch to remove part of the yacht’s mast prior to the vessel being lifted from the sea floor in a lifting operation scheduled to begin next week.
Huijben’s cause of death is unclear, although local reports suggest he may have been killed by an explosion from the cutting torch, or struck by a piece of metal as it was removed from the mast.
The divers’ activities are monitored by CCTV from the support vessel, and operations have been halted while an investigation takes place.
‘On-site work to recover the superyacht Bayesian from the seabed off the coast of northern Sicily has been temporarily suspended at this time,’ said a spokesperson for TMC Marine, the British consultancy firm overseeing the lifting project together with Dutch project management company Hebo.
‘This pause in activity is necessary for the investigations to be completed and to allow all salvage and associated teams to mourn the tragic loss of a highly respected salvage diver.’
‘Friday’s tragedy has been felt by all involved in this project, and the priority right now is the family of this expert, specialist diver, who was well-liked and indeed loved by all involved in the project,’ said Marcus Cave, Director of TMC Marine.
‘This pause in operations will enable thorough investigations to be completed into this tragic accident. It will also help us to mourn and regroup.
‘Our thoughts are with everyone affected,’ said Cave, adding, ‘salvage operations at sea always carry an element of risk.’
The £30 million Bayesian, a 56 m-long (184ft) yacht noted for its 72m (236ft) aluminium mast – the tallest in the world at the time – sank during a freak accident off the coast of Porticello, near Sicily’s capital city, Palermo.
A total of 22 people – twelve crew and ten passengers – were on board at the time, celebrating Mr Lynch’s recent US court victory after being cleared of fraud charges.
The precise cause of the yacht’s sinking remains unclear, however, Italian prosecutors are investigating the ship’s captain, chief engineer and night watchman under manslaughter charges for failing to prevent the vessel capsizing.
The UK’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) is expected to publish a report into Bayesian’s sinking later this year.
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