A banking boss and his wife, who died when a superyacht sank off the coast of Sicily, suffocated to death in an air bubble as oxygen ran out, according to Italian media.
Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy Bloomer were two of the seven people who died when the Bayesian superyacht sank last month.
The pair were on the trip with British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch to celebrate him being cleared of fraud charges in June in the US, when a violent storm hit.
Who was on superyacht that sank off Sicily?
Mr Lynch, his 18-year-old daughter Hannah Lynch, his lawyer Chris Morvillo, Mr Morvillo’s wife Neda, and the yacht’s chef, Recaldo Thomas, died as well.
As the boat went down, Mr and Mrs Bloomer were said to have suffocated as oxygen ran out, and not drowned, La Repubblica reported.
Their post-mortems, along with those of Mr Morvillo and his wife, were said to have found no water in their lungs, suggesting they died as their cabins filled with carbon dioxide and ran out of oxygen.
Divers who recovered the bodies reportedly found them on the left side of cabins – which investigators believe showed them seeking the last pockets of air as the vessel tilted to the right after sinking.
There were no signs of injuries to the four victims examined so far, La Repubblica added.
Mr Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, survived the sinking, along with 14 other people.
Mike Lynch
Pic: Reuters
Hannah Lynch
The remaining post-mortems, on Mr Lynch, his daughter, and Mr Thomas, will be carried out on Friday, reports added, and the superyacht is expected to be raised from the seabed as part of the investigation.
Italian prosecutors have placed the boat’s captain, New Zealander James Cutfield, and two Britons, engineer Tim Parker Eaton and crew member Matthew Griffiths, under investigation for suspected multiple manslaughter and culpable shipwreck.
Mr Parker Eaton reportedly denied allegations that external doors were left open on the night of the storm, allowing water to flood the engine room.
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Chef Recaldo Thomas
Chris Morvillo Pic: Clifford Chance handout
The three men have been allowed to leave Sicily as the investigation continues to try to understand what happened in the 16 minutes between the yacht being hit by the storm at 3.50am and sinking in 60 seconds at 4.06am.
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Mr Cutfield has been quoted by Italian media as telling investigators: “Griffiths came to wake me, saying there were 20 knots of wind.
“I checked the instruments and it was effectively true. I went out immediately and asked that everyone was advised of this because I didn’t like the situation.”
He reportedly said the yacht then tilted to 45 degrees and held there for a bit, before suddenly lurching the other way and throwing them into the sea.
Mr Griffiths has reportedly said: “We were then able to climb back on and we tried to save those we could. We were walking on the walls. We rescued those we could, also Cutfield rescued the little girl and her mother.”