According to autopsy reports, four of the seven individuals who perished in the sinking of the Bayesian superyacht last month died from suffocation after being trapped alive inside the ship’s cabins.
Chris Morvillo, a New York City lawyer, his wife Neda, Jonathan Bloomer, chairman of Morgan Stanley’s London-based subsidiary, and his wife Judy, all succumbed to “death by confinement,” according to forensic findings, as reported by the Italian outlet La Repubblica.
The so-called “dry drowning” supports the theory that the four individuals were conscious as the ship went down and desperately inhaled oxygen within a confined air bubble until it tragically depleted. Pathologists from the Palermo Institute of Forensic Medicine conducted tests that revealed no water in their lungs, trachea, or stomach.
The four victims, along with tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, who had organized the yacht trip to commemorate a recent legal victory, were discovered in a cabin on the port side of the hull, shortly after the Bayesian was struck by a pre-dawn storm on August 19. The incident transpired within approximately 16 minutes of the storm’s onset.
Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter, Hannah, was found in the adjacent cabin, also on the port side of the hull. La Repubblica reports that Lynch’s wife attempted to rescue her husband and daughter, but as the boat swayed, she sustained cuts on her bare feet from broken glass and fell to the ground. As a result of the injuries, she was unable to walk for a week.
The ship sank, tilting onto its starboard side. As oxygen levels dwindled, the air pockets they were trapped in became toxic due to carbon dioxide buildup, ultimately leading to their deaths.
The ship’s cook, Recaldo Thomas, was found immediately next to the wreckage.
Autopsies on the bodies of Lynch, his daughter, and Thomas are scheduled for Friday, according to La Repubblica.
Civil protection officials believe a waterspout, a type of tornado over water, struck the ship near the port of Porticello, where the yacht was anchored.
The Bayesian had 22 individuals on board – 12 passengers and 10 crew members. Fifteen individuals, including Lynch’s wife, were rescued from the 184-foot British-flagged luxury yacht.
Morvillo was one of Lynch’s U.S. lawyers in a fraud case stemming from the 2011 sale of search engine company Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard in an $11 billion deal that went sour due to allegations that Lynch had inflated Autonomy’s value, as reported by the AP. He was acquitted in June.
Prosecutors are reportedly investigating the captain and two crew members for potential responsibility in connection with the incident. The cause of the ship’s sinking remains undetermined.
Giovanni Costantino, the CEO of a manufacturing company responsible for building the yacht, attributed the vessel’s demise to a series of “indescribable, unreasonable errors” by the crew.
Costantino told Reuters that the yacht’s crew committed an “incredible mistake” by not being prepared for the storm, which was included in shipping forecasts. According to the CEO, passengers should have been called out of their cabins and instructed to assemble at a safety point as the ship prepared for the storm, which included measures such as pulling up the anchor.
Costantino dismissed design or construction flaws as reasons for the sinking, stating it was unlikely after 16 years of trouble-free navigation, including encounters more challenging than the one the Bayesian experienced this week.
Instead, he blamed the yacht’s crew for the “incredible mistake” of not being prepared for the storm, which was included in shipping forecasts. The passengers should have been called out of their cabins and assembled at a safety point as the ship was preparing for the storm by pulling up the anchor, the CEO said.
Additionally, doors and hatches should have been closed, and the keel should have been lowered to enhance stability, among other safety measures, Costantino declared.
’ Greg Norman, Stephen Sorace and Greg Wehner, as well as