Four victims on Mike Lynch’s yacht died of asphyxiation, autopsies suggest

PALERMO (Reuters) – Initial examinations of the four people who died when British tech tycoon Mike Lynch’s family yacht sank off the coast of Sicily last month have shown that the cause of death was asphyxiation because there was a lack of oxygen on board the sunken vessel, judicial sources said on Thursday.

Lynch, his daughter Hannah, the on-board cook and four guests died when the Bayesian, a 56-metre (184-foot) British-flagged superyacht, sank in violent and sudden weather conditions off the coast of Porticello, near Palermo, on 19 August.

Initial autopsy results on four of the victims – Morgan Stanley International CEO Jonathan Bloomer, his wife Judy, attorney Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda – indicate they died from asphyxiation because they were trapped on the ship.

Further forensic tests have been ordered and their results are expected in the coming weeks, the sources said.

Autopsies on chef Recaldo Thomas and Mike Lynch were expected to be performed on Friday, and on Hannah Lynch on Saturday.

The bodies of the dead, except for the cook, were found in cabins on the left side of the ship, where passengers had probably tried to search for remaining air bubbles, Palermo’s fire chief said last month.

Italian authorities have launched an investigation into the ship’s captain, James Cutfield, and crew members Tim Parker Eaton and Matthew Griffiths on suspicion of murder and shipwreck.

The opening of an investigation does not constitute an admission of guilt and does not mean that formal charges will follow.

Griffiths, who was on duty the night of the disaster, told investigators that crew members did everything they could to save those on board the Bayesian, according to comments reported last week by Italian news agency Ansa.

The ship’s sinking surprised naval experts who said a vessel like the Bayesian, built by Perini, a luxury yacht builder owned by The Italian Sea Group, should have survived the storm and in any case should not have sunk so quickly.

(Reporting by Vladimir Pantaleone, text by Keith Weir, editing by Alvise Armellini, Angus MacSwan, Peter Graff)