Palermo: Initial autopsies of four people who died when British tech tycoon Mike Lynch’s family yacht sank off the coast of Sicily last month indicate that they suffocated after oxygen ran out aboard the sinking vessel, according to judicial sources on Thursday.
The tragedy occurred on August 19 when Lynch, his daughter Hannah, an onboard cook, and four guests perished as the 56-meter (184-foot) superyacht, Bayesian, sank during a sudden and severe storm near the port of Porticello, close to Palermo. The Bayesian was a British-flagged yacht.
Preliminary autopsy results for four of the victims—Morgan Stanley International chairman Jonathan Bloomer, his wife Judy, and lawyer Chris Morvillo with his wife Neda—suggest they suffocated after being trapped inside the yacht as it went down. Additional forensic tests are underway, with results expected in the coming weeks, the sources added.
The autopsies on Lynch, the cook Recaldo Thomas, and Lynch’s daughter Hannah are scheduled for the coming days.
According to Palermo’s Fire Brigade, the bodies of all the victims, except for the cook, were discovered in cabins on the left-hand side of the yacht. It is suspected they may have been trying to find pockets of air as the vessel filled with water.
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Italian authorities have launched an investigation into the ship’s captain, James Cutfield, and crew members Tim Parker Eaton and Matthew Griffiths on potential manslaughter and shipwreck charges. Being under investigation does not imply guilt, nor does it guarantee formal charges will be filed.
Griffiths, who was on watch duty the night of the disaster, told investigators that the crew made every possible effort to save those aboard the yacht, as reported by the Italian news agency Ansa.
The incident has raised questions among naval experts, who are puzzled by the rapid sinking of the Bayesian, a yacht built by the luxury yacht manufacturer Perini, owned by The Italian Sea Group. Experts argue that a yacht of this caliber should have withstood the storm, or at least remained afloat longer than it did.
