The captain of the Bayesian superyacht that sank during a storm off Sicily last week, killing seven people, decided not to respond to prosecutors' questions on Tuesday, his lawyer said.
James Cutfield, a 51-year-old New Zealand national, is under investigation for possible manslaughter and culpable shipwreck charges and was questioned for the third time by the Termini Imerese prosecutors on Tuesday.
Being placed under investigation in Italy does not imply guilt and does not mean formal charges will necessarily follow.
"He just exercised his right to remain silent, probably prosecutors were expecting that," lawyer Aldo Mordiglia told The Associated Press, adding that the captain's legal team has just been named and needs time to work on his defensive strategy.
Cutfield was among 15 survivors of the August 19 sinking that killed British tech magnate Mike Lynch, his daughter Hannah and five others.
The tragedy happened after severe weather hit the 56-metre (184ft) Bayesian in the early hours, off the coast of Porticello.
Chief prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio, who is heading the investigation, has said his team would consider each possible element of responsibility including those of the captain, the crew, individuals in charge of supervision and the yacht's manufacturer.
Investigators are focusing on how a sailing vessel deemed "unsinkable" by its manufacturer, Italian shipyard Perini Navi, sank while a nearby sailboat remained largely unscathed.
Prosecutors said the event was "extremely rapid" and could have been a "downburst" — a localized, powerful wind that descends from a thunderstorm and spreads out rapidly upon hitting the ground.
The crew was saved, except for the chef, while six passengers were trapped in the hull.
The head of the public prosecutor’s office of Termini Imerese, Ambrogio Cartosio, said on Saturday that it was plausible that crimes of multiple manslaughter and causing a shipwreck through negligence had been committed.
Magistrates questioned Mr Cutfield for more than two hours on Sunday, La Repubblica reported.
Mr Cutfield and his eight surviving crew members have not publicly commented on the investigation.
Last week, Mr Cutfield told Italian media that he “did not see” the storm coming.
On Saturday, maritime director of western Sicily Rear Admiral Raffaele Macauda said the weather at the time of the yacht’s sinking was abnormal and there was nothing to suggest such an extreme situation would arise.
The superyacht was carrying 22 people when it capsized and sunk last Monday just minutes after being hit by a pre-dawn storm.
Fifteen people survived the incident, including Mr Lynch’s wife Angela Bacares.
Franco Romani, a nautical architect that was part of the team that designed the boat, told La Stampa that the Bayesian was “built to go to sea in any weather”.
Giovanni Costantino, founder and chief executive of The Italian Sea Group, has described the Bayesian as “one of the safest boats in the world” and denied suggestions that the boat’s construction was at fault.
Mr Lynch, who founded software giant Autonomy in 1996, was cleared in June of carrying out a massive fraud relating to its £8.64 billion sale to US company Hewlett Packard. The boat trip was a celebration of his acquittal.
Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer, his wife Judy Bloomer, Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo, and his wife Neda Morvillo were also lost when the Bayesian sank.
