Initial examinations of four of the people killed when British tycoon Mike Lynch’s family yacht sank off Sicily last month indicated they died of asphyxiation as the vessel ran out of oxygen, judicial sources said on Thursday (5).
Lynch, her daughter Hannah, a ship’s cook and four guests died when the Bayesian, a 56-meter superyacht flying the British flag, sank during a sudden severe weather event in the port of Porticello, near Palermo, on August 19.
Initial autopsy results on four of the victims — Morgan Stanley International chairman Jonathan Bloomer, his wife Judith, and lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda — suggested they died of asphyxiation after being trapped on the ship.
More forensic tests have been ordered, with results expected in the coming weeks, the sources said.
Examinations on the bodies of Lynch and her daughter are expected to begin later Thursday, they added.
The bodies of the dead, except for the cook, were found in the cabins on the left side of the boat, where passengers may have tried to search for remaining air bubbles, the head of the Palermo Fire Department said last month.
James Cutfield, the ship’s captain, and crew members Tim Parker Eaton and Matthew Griffiths have been placed under investigation by Italian authorities for possible manslaughter and causing the shipwreck.
Being investigated does not imply guilt and does not mean that there will be formal charges.
Griffiths, who was on duty the night of the disaster, told investigators that the crew did everything they could to save those aboard the Bayesian, according to comments carried by Italian news agency Ansa last week.
The sinking puzzled naval experts, who said a ship like the Bayesian, built by Perini, a luxury yacht maker owned by The Italian Sea Group, should have weathered the storm and in any case should not have sunk so quickly.
This content was originally published in Four victims of the yacht sinking in Sicily died of suffocation, autopsies indicate on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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