4 victims on Mike Lynch’s yacht were trapped inside air bubbles before suffocating, report suggests

Divers from the Italian fire and rescue service with a body bag in Porticello on August 21.

Four of the bodies recovered from Mike Lynch’s superyacht showed signs that they had been trapped inside air bubbles before suffocating to death, an Italian media report said.

La Repubblica, citing autopsy results, reported that four of the seven victims who died after British tech tycoon Mike Lynch’s superyacht sank off the coast of Sicily last month died of “atypical drowning.”

The autopsies found no water in their lungs, trachea, or stomach, which suggested that they ran out of oxygen while stuck inside air pockets in one of the yacht’s cabins, per the outlet.

Pathologists from the Institute of Forensic Medicine of Palermo’s Polyclinic carried out the autopsies on the bodies of Lynch’s attorney Chris Morvillo; his wife, Neda Morvillo; the Morgan Stanley executive Jonathan Bloomer; and his wife, Judy Bloomer, on Monday and Tuesday, the report said.

Tiziana Lenzo, a press officer for Palermo’s Polyclinic, told B-17 that the hospital was not allowed to comment on the autopsy results because the incident is under investigation.

The 183-foot Bayesian superyacht sank on August 19 during stormy weather near Porticello, prompting the Italian Coast Guard to launch a search-and-rescue effort.

Fifteen of the 22 people on board survived, while seven — including Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter — were confirmed dead.

Matthew Schanck, the chairman of the UK’s Maritime Search and Rescue Council, told B-17 last month, while the rescue efforts were still ongoing, that divers were likely searching for air pockets where survivors may be located.

Meanwhile, Nick Sloane, who worked on the Costa Concordia salvage operation, told Sky News at the time that divers had a “very small” window of time to try to locate anyone stuck inside, hopefully in “an air pocket.”

In the aftermath of the sinking, some have focused blame on crew members.

Giovanni Costantino, the CEO of the Italian Sea Group, which owns the firm that built the Bayesian in 2008, criticized crew members for not following protocol and failing to prepare for the storm.

Costantino told the Financial Times that the yacht was “designed to be absolutely stable.”

Franco Romani, a nautical architect who was part of the team that designed the yacht, told La Stampa that the Bayesian was built to go to sea in “any weather” and that a side hatch left open could have let water enter the vessel, per Reuters.

During a press conference last month, investigators said five bodies had been discovered in the same cabin.

Italian prosecutors said they had opened a manslaughter investigation following the sinking.

The captain of the yacht, James Cutfield from New Zealand, and two Britons — an engineer, Tim Parker Eaton, and a crew member, Matthew Griffiths — have been placed under investigation, per Sky News.