Four victims of Bayesian superyacht 'had no water in their lungs' amid fears they 'suffocated in cabin air pocket'
5 September 2024, 06:16
Four of the victims who died on the Bayesian superyacht are feared to have suffocated in a cabin air pocket.
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Seven people died after the superyacht sunk off the coast of Sicily last month, including British tech tycoon Mike Lynch and his daughter Hannah.
Of the 22 passengers and crew aboard the boat, 15 were rescued, including Mr Lynch's wife, Angela Bacares.
Autopsies carried out on four of the victims at Palermo's Policlinico hospital have shown that no water was in their lungs, according to local media.
It means there is a chance they could have been conscious as the yacht went down, La Republica said.
The lungs of Jonathan Bloomer, chairman of Morgan Stanley's London-based investment banking subsidiary, and his wife Judy were "not full of water and neither were their stomachs or trachea", it was reported.
The couple are said to have "suffocated" after oxygen ran out in an air bubble below deck.
However it is unlikely to have lasted long as it would have been "small and quickly filled with rising levels of toxic carbon dioxide".
Read more: Autopsies reveal cause of death of two Bayesian superyacht victims as probe into incident continues
It comes after the first autopsies were carried out on lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda on Monday.
Autopsies showed they also had no water in their lungs.
Mr Morvillo was one of Mr Lynch's US lawyers in a fraud case involving the sale in 2011 of Autonomy, a search engine company that became a symbol of British ingenuity, to Hewlett-Packard.
The 11 billion dollar (£8.3 billion) deal quickly turned sour over allegations Mr Lynch had cooked the books to overvalue Autonomy.
He was acquitted in June, with the yacht trip having been organised by Mr Lynch to celebrate his victory.
Post-mortem examinations on the tech tycoon and his daughter are set to be carried out on Friday.
All of the victims in the incident were passengers aside from chef Recaldo Thomas.
Prosecutors are investigating captain James Cutfield, 51, and two crew members for possible responsibility in connection with the sinking.
The investigations do not imply guilt or mean that formal charges will be brought against any of them.
Mr Cutfield's lawyers said last week that he had been "too shaken up" to answer questions from officials.
An unnamed source close to the captain later told The Sun that he did "everything possible" to save those on board.
The 56-metre (184ft) British-flagged luxury yacht sank during what appeared to have been a sudden downburst or localised powerful wind from a thunderstorm that spreads rapidly after hitting the surface.
Prosecutors said raising the Bayesian and examining the yacht for evidence would provide key elements to the investigation.
