Bayesian superyacht tragedy: Billionaire tycoon Mike Lynch and four other victims likely died of suffocation, not drowning, source says

Five victims of the Bayesian superyacht tragedy died of suffocation, not drowning, after running out of oxygen when the vessel sank off Sicily’s coast last month, a source said.

British billionaire Mike Lynch, his daughter Hannah, 18, an on-board cook and four guests died when the Bayesian sank off Porticello, near Palermo, during a storm on August 19.

New Zealand citizen James Cutfield, 51, was the captain of the British-flagged luxury vessel owned by Lynch. Cutfield told Italian media the abrupt nature of the water spout that struck the luxury yacht made a death trap out of the craft.

“We just didn’t see it coming,” he said.

Cutfield is under investigation by Italian authorities alongside British chief engineer Tim Parker Eaton, 59, and co-national Matthew Griffiths, 22. Being investigated in Italy does not imply guilt and does not mean formal charges will follow.

Last week, preliminary results from autopsies on four victims - Morgan Stanley International chairman Jonathan Bloomer, his wife Judith, lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda - indicated suffocation as the likely cause of death. On Saturday, results from an autopsy on Mike Lynch also indicated he died of suffocation.

Initial results on Hannah Lynch’s body were inconclusive, Reuters reported. Trauma or wounds were ruled out in the investigation, leaving open the possibility she either ran out of oxygen or drowned.

Results of the autopsy of Canadian-Antiguan chef Recaldo Thomas indicated he died by drowning.

Mike Lynch died when the Bayesian sank. Photo / Getty Images

Also aboard the yacht were Kiwi Ayla Ronald, 36, a senior associate for Clifford Chance in London, and her partner Matthew Fletcher. Lynch’s wife Angela Bacares was among the 15 people who survived.

The bodies of the victims, except for the cook, were found in cabins on the left-hand side of the 56m (184-foot) superyacht. Trapped passengers may have tried to search for remaining air pockets, the head of Palermo’s fire brigade said last month.

A body bag is brought ashore at the harbour in Porticello by rescue workers on the fifth day of the search and recovery operation, after the luxury yacht Bayesian sank in a storm. Photo / Getty Images

Hannah Lynch, 18, died in the Bayesian sinking off the coast of Sicily.

Lynch founded Autonomy in 1996 and sold it to Hewlett-Packard for US$11 billion 15 years later.

In 2012, Hewlett-Packard said it had discovered a massive accounting scandal. Lynch denied the charges, triggering 12 years of legal battles.

Cutfield’s brother Mark told the Herald his sibling was a “very good sailor” and “very well-respected” in the Mediterranean.

He confirmed his brother initially went to the hospital but did not suffer from injuries which were “too dramatic”.

“He’s safe, he’s okay.”

New Zealand citizen James Cutfield, 51, was the captain of the Bayesian, the boat that sunk off the coast of Italy.

The head of the public prosecutor’s office of Termini Imerese, Ambrogio Cartosio, said the incident was a “grave tragedy” and to “reduce the dimensions of the tragedy”, they called a “big operation of firefighters and firefighting divers who have shown incredible courage and skill” who carried out the mission to retrieve the bodies from the wreck.