Chilling final image of Bayesian superyacht minutes before it sunk reveals key clue to solving mystery

The haunting last image of the Bayesian superyacht before it tragically sank has been revealed as a clue to solving the mystery behind the vessel's doom.

On 19 August, the yacht with 22 passengers sailed into stormy waters off the coast of Sicily, causing it to sink in just one minute.

15 passengers were able to make it onto the lifeboats to safety, but seven tragically lost their lives in the sinking - including British businessman Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter, Hannah.

Now, the final photo of the yacht has come to light and seems to prove a theory behind the vessel's sinking wrong.

Taking just 60 seconds to fully capsize, the Bayesian superyacht was working perfectly fine just minutes before the shock incident. In fact, a newly shared snap has revealed that the initial claims aimed at the crew may be wrong after one detail was spotted.

Two photos will be published in an ITV documentary that is set to broadcast tonight (3 October). They were supplied by Karsten Borner, the Dutch captain of the Sir Robert Baden Powell, a ship that was passing by.

Eerily taken just 14 minutes before the incident, the Bayesian looked perfectly fine in the snaps.

However, in the photo, it looks like a door in the hull was closed - which dismisses what was formerly believed to be the cause of the passengers' deaths.

The hull door was closed, suggesting the sinking likely wasn't the crew's fault (ITV)

Three surviving crew members are currently under investigation in Sicily for culpable shipwreck and multiple manslaughter, after being accused of leaving the door at the rear port side open, which would have caused water to flood the yacht and result in it sinking.

The captain, James Cutfield, is also being investigated for manslaughter.

Captain of the Sir Robert Baden Powell, Karsten Borner, told German newspaper Der Spiegel that he was not pleased by attempts from the ship's builder to blame the crew, according to The Times.

This followed comments from Giovanni Constantino, the owner of the Perini Navi company - which constructed the vessel - who described the ship as 'unsinkable' while saying that the crew must have left doors or hatches open.

The ship sank on that same evening (Fabio La Bianca/PA)

He added: "If all 20 had been on deck, with lifeboats in the water, the yacht would have gone down, but all 20 would have been saved."

Borner and his crew rescued the nine crew members and six passengers from the doomed superyacht and took them to safety, with 11 including Mike Lynch's wife rescued with the help of an inflatable life raft.

During an interview for the upcoming ITV documentary The Sinking of a Superyacht — How Safe Is Your Voyage?, Borner recalled: "My first mate said, ‘she has gone, she has sunk’, and I was laughing at him, saying such a big thing doesn’t disappear in a minute.

"He was right."