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Tech tycoon Mike Lynch likely died of suffocation in yacht, postmortem indicates

Tycoon with Irish roots died of suffocation after running out of oxygen, an investigative source says. Further forensic tests have been ordered all seven victims, with results expected in the coming weeks

Mike Lynch, his daughter Hannah, an on-board cook and four guests died when the British-flagged superyacht Bayesian sank during a severe and sudden weather event off the port of Porticello, near Palermo, on August 19th.. Photograph: Yui Mok/PA
Sat Sept 07 2024 - 18:47

Tech tycoon Mike Lynch died of suffocation after running out of oxygen, an investigative source said, citing initial examinations carried out on Saturday after his body was recovered from the family yacht that sank off Sicily’s coast last month.

The British entrepreneur of Irish parentage, his daughter Hannah (18), an on-board cook and four guests died when the British-flagged superyacht Bayesian sank during a severe and sudden weather event off the port of Porticello, near Palermo, on August 19th.

Initial results on Hannah Lynch’s body, examinations of which were carried out on Saturday, were inconclusive, the source said, only ruling out any traumas or wounds as the cause of death and leaving open the possibilities she either ran out of oxygen or drowned.

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The bodies of the dead, except for the cook, were found in cabins on the left-hand side of the 56m-metre (184ft-feet) vessel, where the trapped passengers may have tried to search for remaining bubbles of air, the head of Palermo’s fire brigade said last month.

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Preliminary results from autopsies on four other 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, judicial sources said earlier this week.

Fifteen people survived, including Lynch's wife, whose company owned the Bayesian, and the yacht's captain.

Initial examinations of the Canadian-Antiguan on-board chef Recaldo Thomas indicated he died by drowning, the investigative source said on Saturday.

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Further forensic tests have been ordered all the victims, with results expected in the coming weeks, the source said.

The sinking has puzzled naval experts, who said a vessel such as the Bayesian, built by high-end yacht manufacturer Perini, which is owned by the Italian Sea Group, should have withstood the storm and not have sunk as quickly as it did. – Reuters

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