I've seen videos of boats getting hit over the years where the sailboat survived with damage. One I recal was a raceboat that tried to carry it's spinnaker in front of a freighter in a race. It lost the spinnaker, the rig -- but it didn't sink. IT rolled along side of the freighter.

Who knows or ever will know exactly what happended in the case of the Aegian?

AIS records should presumably show who was in the vicinity.

There weren't reports of visibility issues or seas that should have obscured the ability to see a freighter's lights (or vice versa for the sailboat's lights.

Sad.