Captain and two crew members of Mike Lynch’s family yacht are under investigation after it sank off the coast of Italy.

Rome – Engineer and sailor of the luxury ship’s crew Luxury yacht that sank off the coast of SicilyBritish tech entrepreneur killed Mike Lynch Reuters and ANSA news agencies reported that Italian prosecutors have placed the ship’s captain, his 18-year-old daughter and five other people under investigation in addition to the captain. CBS News was unable to reach prosecutors or lawyers for the Albizia crew to confirm the development, which comes about a week and a half after the ship capsized on Aug. 19.

Engineer Tim Parker-Eaton and seaman Matthew Griffith, who was on night watch when the accident occurred, have reportedly been placed under formal observation. Investigation into possible manslaughter The 184-foot ship sank just days after the drowning of the Baysman yacht’s captain, James Cutler, whose lawyers confirmed he was the subject of an investigation.

After meeting with prosecutors for several days, Cutler, a 51-year-old New Zealander, refused to answer any further questions, his lawyer said Wednesday.

“The captain has exercised his right to remain silent for two fundamental reasons,” his lawyer Giovanni Rizzotti told reporters. “The first is that he is very tired. The second is that we were only appointed on Monday, and in order to present a comprehensive and correct defense, we need to have access to a set of data that we do not have at the moment.”

Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah were among the passengers and a crew member who died when the luxury yacht rapidly sank during a violent storm in the pre-dawn hours of August 19. The capsizing of the high-tech vessel quickly raised questions, as another sailboat anchored off the coast of Palermo managed to weather the storm unscathed.

Fifteen people, including Lynch’s wife Angela Pakaris, managed to escape to a lifeboat, and were rescued by another boat in the area.

According to Italian media reports, investigators are looking into whether engineer Eaton neglected to activate safety systems designed to automatically close all hatches in the ship, flooding the engine room with water and possibly causing a power outage and subsequent flash flooding of the entire yacht.

Under Italian law, being placed under investigation does not necessarily mean that a person will be formally charged.

Prosecutors said at a news conference Saturday that the investigation will require recovering the wreckage of the Bayezid from the seabed, where it currently lies at a depth of about 160 feet.

Prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio said his team would work to determine whether the captain, other crew members or the yacht’s manufacturers bore any responsibility for the sinking.