PALERMO, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Initial examinations of four

of the people killed when British tech tycoon Mike Lynch's

family yacht sank off Sicily last month indicated they had died

of suffocation as oxygen ran out on the stricken vessel,

judicial sources said on Thursday.

Lynch, his daughter Hannah, an onboard cook and four guests

died when the Bayesian, a British flagged 56-metre (184-feet)

superyacht, sank during a severe and sudden weather event off

the port of Porticello, near Palermo, on Aug. 19.

First results from autopsies on four of the victims - Morgan

Stanley International chairman Jonathan Bloomer, his wife

Judith, lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda - suggested that

they died from suffocation, having been trapped on the ship.

More forensic tests were ordered, with results expected in

the coming weeks, the sources said.

Examinations on the bodies of Lynch and his daughter were

due to begin later on Thursday, they added.

The bodies of the dead, except for the cook, were found in

the cabins on the left-hand side of the boat, where the

passengers may have tried to search for remaining bubbles of

air, the head of Palermo's Fire Brigade said last month.

James Cutfield, the ship captain, and crew members Tim

Parker Eaton and Matthew Griffiths have been placed under

investigation by the Italian authorities for potential

manslaughter and shipwreck.

Being investigated does not imply guilt and does not mean

formal charges will follow.

Griffiths, who was on watch duty on the night of the

disaster, has told investigators that the crew members did

everything they could to save those on board the Bayesian,

according to comments reported by Italian news agency Ansa last

week.

The sinking has puzzled naval experts, who said a vessel

like the Bayesian, built by Perini, a high-end yacht

manufacturer owned by The Italian Sea Group, should

have withstood the storm and, in any case, should not have sunk

as quickly as it did.