Two British crew members who were on board the Bayesian superyacht which sank during a tornado off the coast of Sicily are under investigation, sources say.
Tech tycoon Mike Lynch, his teenage daughter and five others were killed when the British-flagged yacht capsized and sank within minutes in the early hours of August 19.
Italian prosecutors are investigating ship engineer Tim Parker Eaton and sailor Matthew Griffith for possible manslaughter and shipwreck charges, a source told Reuters on Wednesday.
The source said Mr Parker Eaton is suspected of having failed to protect the 56-metre-long yacht's engine room and operating systems.
Mr Griffith was on watch duty on the night of the incident, the source added.
The boat’s 51-year-old captain James Cutfield, a New Zealander, was put under investigation for the same offences on Monday, and declined to respond to prosecutors during questioning on Tuesday.
The investigation does not mean the crew members are guilty and does not mean formal charges will follow.
The crew were among 15 survivors of the sinking that killed seven people.
The crew was saved, except for the chef Canadian-Antiguan national Recaldo Thomas, while six passengers were trapped in the hull.
Mr Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, alongside Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer, his wife Judy Bloomer, Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda Morvillo were lost when the yacht sank.
Hannah had recently finished her A-levels and was due to study at Oxford University.
Their bodies were later recovered from the wreck following days of searching.
Mr Lynch founded software giant Autonomy in 1996, and was cleared in June of carrying out a massive fraud relating to its 11 billion dollar (£8.64billion) sale to US company Hewlett Packard, after a trial at a federal court in San Francisco, California.
The yacht sinking has puzzled experts, who said a vessel like the Bayesian, built by Italian high-end yacht manufacturer Perini, should have withstood the storm and should not have sunk as quickly as it did.
Prosecutors in the town of Termini Imerese, near Palermo, have said their investigation would take time, and would require the wreck to be salvaged from the sea.
The Bayesian is lying on its right side, at a depth of around 50 metres.
