Builder says crew's errors to blame for yacht tragedy off Sicily

The owner of a yacht building company has stated that a recent vessel capsizing incident that left at least six people dead off Sicily was the result of human error.

Giovanni Costantino, CEO of The Italian Sea Group, said the crew of the ill-fated yacht Bayesian committed a series of "indescribable, unreasonable errors" that led to its loss in a storm off the Sicilian village of Porticello on Monday, August 19.

Perini Navi, which is owned by The Italian Sea Group, built and delivered Bayesian in 2008. The yacht later underwent two refits but at different yards.

Costantino claims the incident was unlikely to have been caused by design or construction flaws and that it was instead due to the yacht's crew not being in a "state of alert" as a storm swept through the area on the morning of the incident.

In an interview with Sky News, Costantino remarked that the yachts built by his company "are absolutely safe." He added that Monday's tragedy could have been avoided had the crew studied the latest weather charts and implemented the necessary safety procedures, such as closing all openings and making sure no one was on the outer deck when the storm hit.