Twenty-year-old Sinead McNamara was found unconscious on 93-meter M/Y Mayan Queen IV in the early morning of August 31 while the vessel was docked in Kefalonia, Greece, The Guardian reports. Doctors attempted to revive her and then rushed her to a hospital, but she reportedly died while being airlifted to Athens.
The captain of a neighboring boat noticed her body and shouted at her. When she didn’t respond, he began frantically calling for help, according to News.com.au. Port police and the vessel’s security were then alerted. McNamara’s death occurred on what was reportedly her last day as a crewmember.
Her position on Mayan Queen IV, owned by Mexican mining magnate Alberto Bailleres, remains unknown, but she had been working on the vessel for four months, according to the Australian Financial Review. McNamara was also an Instagram model.
Members of the Bailleres family had left the yacht two days before her death and only crew were on board at the time. Police have launched an investigation into her death, interviewing crewmembers and acquiring footage from the yacht’s security cameras.
Her body is to be flown to Australia with her mother and sister, who were on their way to Greece to meet her for a holiday when they heard the news, Australian 9NEWS reports.
According to Greek City Times, a Greek coroner ruled on September 4 that McNamara died from hanging but that results from additional tests could take months to be returned. After being detained by local authorities until the crime scene had been examined, M/Y Mayan Queen IV left port with all 23 crewmembers on September 3.
UPDATE: 9/13/2018
Sinead McNamara’s friends and family will say their final farewell on September 15 in Port Macquarie, Australia, local media Port Macquarie News reports.
McNamara died after an incident where she was reportedly found entangled in rope on M/Y Mayan Queen IV on August 31. She was unable to be resuscitated while en route to the hospital in Athens, Greece, and she died hours later during a transfer to a larger facility.
McNamara’s family is demanding answers about her sudden and unexpected death, including the causes and circumstances that preceded it and why it took so long to transfer her to an Athens hospital, The Guardian reports. Their attorney Charalampos Triantafyllopoulos said in a statement, “Her parents state that Sinead was not facing any problems, was communicating very often with her family, and was happy.”
They believe it is crucial that the case be thoroughly investigated so the truth can be revealed, and they can learn what happened. McNamara was days away from ending her four-month stint on the vessel and was excited for her mother and sister’s arrival.
However, it emerged on September 7 that less than 48 hours before her death she made a phone call to her mother and brother about an incident involving another crewmember on board the vessel, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.
After conducting an autopsy, chief coroner Elias Boyiokas said he had been left with “doubts and questions” and that there was no evidence of ill-treatment. His verdict was “death by hanging, but there were signs that she may have tried to stop it,” The Sydney Morning Herald reported. The toxicological and histological tests will reveal if alcohol or any other substances were in her system.