Two British crew members are placed under investigation after £30m superyacht disaster that left seven dead - as captain still too 'shaken up' to answer questions

Two British crew members working on the £30million Bayesian superyacht when it sank off the coast of Sicily and left seven people dead have been placed under investigation.

Six passengers, including British tech billionaire Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, drowned in the August 19 tragedy. The yacht's on-board chef Recaldo Thomas also died. 

Italian prosecutors are investigating Tim Parker Eaton, who was in charge of the engine room on the night of the sinking, a judicial source told Reuters today. 

Investigators are also said to be probing another British crew member, Matthew Griffith, who was keeping watch on deck, as well as Tijs Koopmans, 33, the Dutch first officer.

It comes after the boat's captain, James Cutfield was placed under investigation for manslaughter and shipwreck on Monday. His lawyers have revealed how he was too 'shaken up' to answer questions during his first formal interrogation yesterday. 

Aldo Mordiglia, one of the lawyers representing the 51-year-old New Zealander, had claimed that the captain wanted to co-operate with the investigation. But he later revealed that his client had 'exercised his right to remain silent'.

'There were two reasons,' Mordiglia told The Times. 'He is understandably very shaken up, and secondly us lawyers were only appointed yesterday and we need to acquire information we do not have in order to defend him.' 

Prosecutors in Italy have previously questioned Cutfield, who they said had been 'extremely cooperative'. Other crew members on the 56-meter (184-foot) British-flagged luxury yacht remained in Italy voluntarily to assist the investigation. 

Under Italian laws, being under investigation doesn't imply any guilt, and doesn't necessarily lead to criminal charges. 

Cutfield, Parker-Eaton and Griffith were among 15 survivors of the August 19 tragedy that killed Mr Lynch, Hannah, Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer, his wife Judy Bloomer, Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda Morvillo.

The body of Canadian-Antiguan national Mr Thomas was recovered at the scene of the sinking, while the other bodies were found in the days after by divers.

Their bodies were taken to the nearby village of Porticello, about 11 miles from Sicilian capital Palermo.

The victims' bodies were tragically found in 'tight spots' with furniture on top of them and brought ashore one-by-one by dive teams last week, who had carried out 120 trips to the wreck on the seabed.

Fifteen of the 22 people on board the ship - including Hannah's mother Angela Bacares, 57 - managed to escape in a liferaft.

Italian prosecutors have admitted they did not conduct alcohol and drug testing on the vessel's crew - all but one of whom survived - because they needed treatment and were in shock. They have vowed to question the sailors intensively.

Chief prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio, who's 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.

The coastguard says no tornado warning had been issued that night, contrary to previous reports, and the ship's captain Mr Cutfield reportedly told Italian newspaper La Repubblica of the sudden weather change: 'We didn't see it coming.'

Mr Cartosio previously said he thought it was 'probable that offences were committed' surrounding the sinking of the yacht.

He opened a case of shipwreck and manslaughter that was not initially directed at any individuals. Mr Cutfield is now being investigated for shipwreck and manslaughter.

According to a live translation provided by the BBC, Mr Carosio told reporters that the sinking could have been the responsibility of the captain, crew, individuals in charge of supervision, the ship-builder, or others.

He added: 'We will establish each element's responsibility - that will be done by the inquiry, so we can't do that prematurely.

'For me, it is probable that offences were committed - that it could be a case of manslaughter - but we can only establish that if you give us the time to investigate.

'Media timing is completely different from that of a prosecutor. We need a minimum amount of time to come to a proper scientific conclusion.'

Mr Cartosio, while stressing that enquiries remain at an early stage, appeared to suggest there were questions for the crew to answer.

He added that it would be 'painful' if, theoretically, 'this tragedy, this terrible tragedy, was caused by behaviours that were not perfectly in order with regard to the responsibility that everybody had to have (on) the ship.'

He added: 'Individuals or people would potentially be culpable, negligent, lack of prudence, lack of responsibility... We can't just deal with this quickly.'

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 localised, powerful wind that descends from a thunderstorm and spreads out rapidly upon hitting the ground.

The Bayesian will be raised from the seabed after 18,000 litres of fuel have been removed from its tank.