Four of the seven victims killed in the Bayesian superyacht wreck were trapped alive inside the ship’s cabins as the vessel went down off the coast of Sicily last month, according to their autopsies.
New York City lawyer Chris Morvillo, his wife Neda, along with Morgan Stanley Bank International chair Jonathan Bloomer and his wife, Judy, all died of “dry drowning,” according to tests conducted over the past two days, Italian outlet la Repubblica reported.
None of the four passengers aboard the 185-foot sailboat had water in their lungs, trachea or stomach — revealing that they did not drown in the seawater after the ship began sinking during an Aug. 19 storm.
Pathologists with the Palermo Institute of Forensic Medicine determined the four victims died of asphyxiation when the air bubble they huddled in ran out of oxygen and became toxic with carbon dioxide.
They said the victims’ cause of death was “death by confinement,” according to the Italian publication.
The bodies of the Morvillos and the Bloomers — and that of British tech billionaire and the yacht owner Mike Lynch — were found inside the same cabin room on the left side of the $40 million yacht.
The body of Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter Hannah was discovered in the next room, also on the left side of the hull.
The ship sank to the ocean floor and sat tilted on its right side — which means the victims were likely awake as they headed inside the cabins that filled with water last in hopes of finding air pockets.
But the air pockets quickly became toxic as the victims breathed in the last of its oxygen and breathed out carbon dioxide.
Lynch’s wife and Hanna’s mother, Angela Bacares — who survived the shipwreck — reportedly tried to warn those below the ship’s deck but was injured when she stepped on broken glass and wasn’t able to reach the cabins as they quickly filled with water, the local outlet reported.
Bacares was among 15 passengers and crew members on the yacht to survive.
One crew member, the ship’s cook, Recaldo Thomas, was also killed. His body was found floating next to the downed yacht.
Additional tests are needed to confirm that the four victims died by “dry drowning,” la Repubblica reported.
Autopsy examinations on the bodies of Lynch, Hannah and Thomas are scheduled for Friday.
The cause of the ship’s capsize has not yet been determined, though the stormy weather is believed to be a contributing factor.
Three Bayesian crew members, including Captain James Cutfield, are being investigated for suspected negligent manslaughter and causing the shipwreck.
