Four of the victims of the Bayesian yacht disaster died after oxygen ran out in an air bubble on the sunken boat, it has been reported.
Autopsies over the past few days on four of those who died have revealed an absence of water in their lungs, suggesting they suffocated as the air became saturated with carbon dioxide, Italian publication La Repubblica said.
The outlet reported post-mortems showed four people died from “atypical drowning”, with “no water in their lungs, trachea and stomach”. There were no signs of external injuries.
The results appear to back up investigators’ opinions that the victims sought out air pockets inside the ship before they died.
The incident, which claimed the lives of seven people including British tech magnate Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, unfolded last month after a violent storm hit the yacht off the coast of Sicily.
The yacht sank quickly, trapping the victims below deck as it settled on its right side. Divers who retrieved the victims’ bodies on board found five of them, including Mr Lynch, in one cabin on the left side of the yacht. Hannah Lynch’s body was the last to be found, in a separate cabin.
The body of the yacht’s chef, Recaldo Thomas, was also recovered floating near the wreckage, which lies 50 metres below the surface.
Investigators believe the victims sought out remaining air pockets as the vessel moved sharply to the right while sinking.
However, it is unlikely to have lasted long as it would have been “small and quickly filled with rising levels of toxic carbon dioxide”.
The findings of the autopsies, detailed in La Repubblica on Wednesday, appeared to support this theory.
Among the victims examined so far were Jonathan Bloomer, the international chairman of Morgan Stanley Bank; his wife Judith, a psychotherapist; Christopher Morvillo, a US lawyer; and his wife Neda, a jewellery designer.
Previous reports suggested Mr and Mrs Morvillo, whose autopsies were carried out first, both died by drowning.
But post-mortems have found the lungs of the four people were “not fully of water”, which is otherwise known as “dry drowning”.
La Repubblica reported Ms Barcares, who is also the CEO of the company that owns the superyacht, made it to the deck barefoot but only thought about saving her daughter and her husband trapped below.
As the boat reared up, she cut herself on broken glass and was unable to reach the cabins and help Mr Lynch and their daughter Hannah before the electrical blackout on the Bayesian.
For a week after the sinking, she said she could not walk because of the lacerations to her feet.
The remaining autopsies, on Mr Lynch, his daughter, and chef Recaldo Thomas, are scheduled for Friday, the newspaper added.
Nine crew members and six passengers, including Mr Lynch’s wife, survived by escaping on an inflatable life raft.
Prosecutors have launched an investigation into the yacht’s captain, New Zealander James Cutfield, along with two Britons – engineer Tim Parker Eaton and crew member Matthew Griffiths – over allegations of possible manslaughter and culpable shipwreck.
Mr Parker Eaton denied claims that external doors were left open during the storm, which reportedly allowed water to flood the engine room.
According to Italian news agency Ansa, Mr Griffiths – who was on watch duty at the time – told investigators: “I woke up the captain when the wind was at 20 knots (23 mph/37 kph). He gave orders to wake everyone else.
“The ship tilted and we were thrown into the water. Then we managed to get back up and tried to rescue those we could.
“We were walking on the walls (of the boat). We saved who we could, Cutfield also saved the little girl and her mother.”
The men have been permitted to leave Sicily as investigators work to piece together the crucial events that unfolded in the 16-minute window between the yacht being hit by a suspected “downburst” storm at 3.50am and its rapid sinking at 4.06am, just 400 metres from its anchorage near the Sicilian port of Porticello.
Being investigated does not imply guilt and does not mean formal charges will follow.