Heartbreak as Mike Lynch's cause of death revealed after two pals die in 'air bubble'

Mike Lynch died of suffocation due to a lack of oxygen when the Bayesian superyacht sank, according to reports.

A source cited examinations conducted on Saturday (September 7) after the tech tycoon's body was recovered from the vessel which sank off the coast of Sicily.

Mr Lynch and his daughter, Hannah Lynch, 18, were among seven people who died when the Bayesian sank in a sudden, violent storm on August 19.

The same source told Reuters news agency initial results on Miss Lynch's body also carried out on Saturday proved inconclusive.

Any traumas or wounds were ruled out by the "investigative source" as the cause of death, which the same publication reports leaves open the possibility Miss Lynch either ran out of oxygen or drowned.

The head of Palermo's fire service said previously that the bodies of six of the dead were found in cabins on the port side of the 184 feet long vessel.

It is believed the trapped passengers may have been trying to find air pockets.

The first autopsy results of victims Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda showed drowning as the cause of death, local authorities said on Monday.

Mr Morvillo was one of Mr Lynch’s lawyers in a US fraud case involving the sale in 2011 of Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard in an £8billion ($11bn) deal which turned sour over allegations Mr Lynch cooked the books to overvalue the company. He was acquitted in June.

Jonathan Bloomer, chairman of Morgan Stanley’s London-based investment banking subsidiary, and his wife, Judy, reportedly found an air bubble but suffocated after running out of oxygen.

Italian daily La Repubblica reported their lungs were "not full of water and neither were their stomachs or trachea" with experts saying the air pocket would have filled with "toxic carbon dioxide".

Initial examinations of the yacht’s cook, Recaldo Thomas, suggest he died by drowning, according to Reuters, citing the same source.

Prosecutors are investigating the captain and two crew members for possible responsibility in connection with the sinking.

The British-flagged luxury yacht sank during in what appears to have been a sudden downburst. This is a powerful wind from a thunderstorm which spreads rapidly after hitting the surface. Fifteen people, including Lynch's wife, were rescued.

Raising the Bayesian and examining the yacht for evidence will provide key elements to the investigation, according to prosecutors. No timeline has been determined.