CNN
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Initial autopsies on four of the seven victims who died last month when a superyacht sank during a storm off Italy have shown they died from “dry drowning”, authorities said.

The phenomenon, also known as “atypical drowning”, means the victims had no water in their lungs, trachea or stomach, said a spokesman for the lawyer for the captain of the Bayesian, which sank off the Sicilian port of Porticello on August 19.

There is no medically accepted condition of “dry drowning”—”dry drowning” or other terms, such as secondary drowning or delayed drowning, are sometimes used to describe patients whose condition worsened after rescue or who had very little water in their lungs. However, the American Red Cross and other health organizations discourage the use of these terms; people can experience health effects from being in the water, but that is not the same as drowning, he says.

According to local media reports, the cause of death for the first four victims was that an air bubble was found in the cabin where the bodies of five victims were discovered, and that it absorbed all the oxygen before the air bubble became toxic due to carbon dioxide.

Autopsies on U.S. lawyer Chris Morvillo, his wife Neda Morvillo, Morgan Stanley banker Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Anne Elizabeth Judith Bloomer were carried out on Wednesday at the Institute of Forensic Medicine of the Palermo Polyclinic Hospital, officials said.

Autopsies are due to be carried out on Friday on British tech tycoon Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter.

No date has been set for the autopsy of Recaldo Thomas, the ship’s chef, due to difficulties in contacting his family in Antigua.

All seven victims underwent tests last Saturday to assess their injuries. There were no broken bones or other physical injuries that could have contributed to their deaths.

The prosecutor investigating the case suggested in early August that the victims were looking for an air pocket.

The autopsies are part of a criminal investigation into the ship’s captain, James Cutfield, the ship’s engineer, Tim Parker Eaton, and a sailor, Matthew Griffith, who was on watch the night of the accident. None of the men are in Italy.

They are being investigated for “multiple homicide” and causing a shipwreck, but authorities say that does not mean they will be charged with any crimes. The prosecutor leading the investigation has cleared them to leave the country.

The 56-metre yacht sank within 16 minutes of being hit by a storm or tornado in the early morning hours of August 19. The vessel will need to be refloated for an investigation and to ensure the 18,000 litres of fuel on board does not leak into the sea off the Porticello harbour near Palermo.

Bids have been sent out to save the yacht, and the costs will be covered by the company of Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, which owns the yacht.

Toxicology results for the seven victims are expected in the coming days. No alcohol or drug tests have been conducted on any of the crew members, a prosecutor said at a news conference after the bodies of all the victims were found.

Lynch and his business partner Stephen Chamberlain, who died after being hit by a car on the day Bayesian sank, were acquitted of fraud charges by a US court in June 2024. The charges related to the sale of their company Autonomy to Hewlett Packard, which said it would not withdraw a $4 billion civil lawsuit for damages currently being heard by a British court.

Correction: The name of Mike Lynch’s business partner was corrected in the article.