Recovery of tycoon Lynch's sunken yacht off Sicily to begin after mid-April

ROME (Reuters) - The superyacht that sank off Sicily last year, killing British tech tycoon Mike Lynch and six others, will be recovered once its mast is dismantled in a salvage operation likely to begin after the middle of April, a source close to the matter told Reuters on Wednesday.

The recovery of the British-flagged Bayesian, lying on its right side at a depth of around 50 metres (164 feet), could help explain why it sank during a severe and sudden storm off the port of Porticello, near Palermo - an event that has baffled naval experts.

Twenty-two people were on board, and 15 survived, including nine of the 10 crew members as well as Lynch's wife, whose company owned the Bayesian. Lynch's daughter was among those who died.

The Italian prosecutors and coastguards have selected a recovery project led by TMC Marine Consultants Ltd, which involves pulling the 72-metre mast out of the water separately from the rest of the vessel, the source said.

TMC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Other salvage plans, which involved turning the 55.9-metre yacht, which weighs 534 tonnes, almost 90 degrees on the seabed without dismantling its mast, were rejected because of their complexity of the procedure, the source added.

Prosecutors in the town of Termini Imerese, near Palermo, have placed three crew members under investigation: captain James Cutfield, ship engineer Tim Parker Eaton and night watch duty sailor Matthew Griffiths.

They are suspected of manslaughter and causing a shipwreck, but being investigated in Italy does not imply guilt and does not mean formal charges will follow.

Prosecutors have said the ship would have to be pulled out of the water before the investigation could be concluded.

Once the Bayesian has been righted on the seabed and raised to the surface, it will most likely be taken to the nearby port of Palermo, some 8.4 nautical miles away, to investigate the cause of the disaster and recover any sensitive data on board.

(Reporting by Wladimir Pantaleone; Writing by Giselda Vagnoni; Editing by Keith Weir and Paul Simao)