Bayesian Yacht: Four victims feared to have chocked on air bubbles

Four victims, who died on board tech tycoon Mike Lynch’s superyacht, are feared to have suffocated to death in air bubbles that filled with carbon dioxide, according to their autopsies. 

Seven people were killed when the Bayesian, a £30 million superyacht owned by the Darktrace founder, sank last month in just 16 minutes after it was hit by a violent downburst.

Autopsies carried out on victims at Palermo’s Policlinico hospital so far revealed they had no water in their lungs, raising the frightening possibility that they may have been conscious as the yacht sank, according to Italian news outlet La Republica. 

Morgan Stanley International chairman Jonathan Bloomer, 70, his wife Judy, as well as New York lawyer Chris Morvillo and his partner Neda had no signs of injuries, the Italian media suggests. 

Among those who died when the vessel sank off the coast of the Italian island of Sicily at Porticello near Palermo on August 19 were Lynch, 59, and his daughter Hannah, 18, who was due to start at Oxford University later this month.

The Italian newspaper La Repubblica claimed the lungs of banker, Jonathan Bloomer, 70, and his wife Judy were ‘not full of water and neither were their stomachs or trachea’.

They went on to suggest that the couple had ‘suffocated’ after oxygen ran out in an air bubble below deck that had formed after the yacht sank.

It added that the bubble would have lasted barely any time at all as it would have been ‘small and quickly filled with rising levels of toxic carbon dioxide’. 

Among others who lost their live in the tragedy were lawyer Chris Morvillo and his partner Neda, with were also found to have no water in their lungs in post-mortem examinations carried out earlier in the week. 

All the victims in the disaster were passengers except for the yacht’s chef Recaldo Thomas.

His body, which was found in the sea close to where the Bayesian sank, was the first to be recovered. 

The other victims – apart from Hannah who was found in her cabin – were in another room.

Italian media has also gone on to claim that it was Hannah’s mother and Mr Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, who had gone below deck to wake them and inform them the vessel was about to go down. 

Mrs Bacares, survived along with 14 others after the £30 million vessel sank off the coast of the Italian island of Sicily at Porticello near Palermo on August 19. 

Ms Barcares is also listed as the owner of the 56m yacht, which is registered with an Isle of Man company called Revton.

She is said to have been woken by the fierce storm and gone onto the bridge where she found several crew members.

Ms Bacares, who was barefoot, then went back below deck to warn the others but cut her feet on glass that had fallen onto the floor.

Fifteen people survived the sinking and autopsies on Mr Lynch, Hannah and Mr Thomas are expected to be carried out on Friday.

Three members of the crew including New Zealand skipper James Cutfield, 51, British chief engineer Tim Parker Eaton, 59, and conational Matthew Griffiths, 22, are being investigated for causing a disaster and manslaughter.

However, this does not necessarily mean that charges will follow, and it will be up to an investigating magistrate to decide if a full trial will take place and that will be after the probe is closed.

New Zealander Mr Cutfield, 51, who is among three currently being probed regarding last month’s tragedy, was seen for the first time today since he jetted from Sicily, where the boat sank, to his home in Majorca by private jet last week. 

Both Mr Cutfield and Mr Parker Eaton live on the same road in a sleepy Majorcan village, half an hour from the capital Palma, in villas each with a swimming pool.

Mr Cutfield, who injured his leg in the sinking still had a white bandage on his leg, as he was seen leaving his house in a black Mercedes.

Mr Parker Eaton, who is originally from Clophill, Bedfordshire, purchased his property in 2013 while Mr Cutfield bought his five years later.

There were signs of life at Mr Parker Eaton’s home, where he lives with his partner, but there was no answer at the door while Mr Cutfield also did not respond to attempts to contact him. 

The men flew out of Sicily last week on a private jet and Mr Cutfield was reported to have refused to answer questions as per his rights – although he was quoted as telling coastguards they ‘didn’t see’ the storm coming.

Mr Cutfield had been a captain on luxury yachts for eight years and had previously been working on them and involved in building them for the past 30 years in various locations around the Mediterranean.

He said before he worked for the British tech tycoon Mike Lynch, he had worked for a Turkish billionaire.

His brother Mark, who lives in New Zealand, said he was a ‘top sailor’ in his youth and raced 470s competitively in his youth and he has married wife Cristina in Majorca last year.

This comes shortly after Matthew Griffiths, who was on board the Bayesian when it was struck by tragedy in the early hours of August 19, told authorities that crew members did everything they could to save passengers, according to Italian news outlet, Ansa

‘I woke up the captain when the wind was at 20 knots (23 mph). He gave orders to wake everyone else,’ Ansa quoted Griffiths as saying.

‘The ship tilted and we were thrown into the water. Then we managed to get back up and tried to rescue those we could,’ he added, whilst describing the events of that occurred that fateful night.

‘We were walking on the walls (of the boat). We saved who we could, Cutfield also saved the little girl and her mother,’ he said, referring to passenger Charlotte Golunski and her one-year-old daughter. 

In total there were 15 survivors in the wreckage of the Bayesian yacht, which sunk on the Porticello coast.

Prosecutor Raffaele Cammarano previously said that the yacht was most likely hit by a ‘downburst,’ a very strong downward wind.

However, the sinking has puzzled naval marine experts, who said a vessel like the Bayesian, built by Italian high-end yacht manufacturer Perini, should have withstood the storm and, in any case, should not have sunk as quickly as it did.

Prosecutors in the town of Termini Imerese, near Palermo, have said their investigation will take time, with the wreck yet to be salvaged from the sea.

They are currently investigating whether human error may have caused the disaster with claims that ‘portholes and hatches’ were left open which led to the ship being engulfed by water and sinking in 16 minutes.

Mr Parker Eaton, 56, has told prosecutors he followed procedures and made sure all was watertight as the storm engulfed the yacht.

According to excerpts from Mr Parker Eaton’s statement, leaked to the Italian media, he insisted all doors and openings on the yacht were shut.

He said: ‘I activated the generators and the hydraulic pump for the rudder.’

When asked crucially if all portholes and hatches, including where the yacht’s tender was kept, were closed he replied: ‘Everything was shut.

‘The only thing open was the hatch to the engine room which from my point of view would not have caused the disaster because it was at the other end from where the yacht went down.’

Lynch, 59, had invited friends and family onto the boat to celebrate his recent acquittal in a huge US fraud case when the tragedy occurred earlier this month.

The 56-metre (185-foot) yacht was struck by a storm when it was anchored off Porticello, near Palermo, and sank within minutes.

The bodies of Lynch, his 18-year-old daughter Hannah and friends were recovered over the subsequent days in a major search operation.

Chief prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio, who is heading the investigation, has said his team will consider each possible element of responsibility including those of the captain, the crew, individuals in charge of supervision and the yacht’s manufacturer.