Four people, including two Italian intelligence agents and a former member of the Israeli security forces, were killed in the sinking of a tourist boat on Lake Maggiore in northern Italy, which occurred in strong winds.
The 16-metre-long vessel flipped off the coast of Lisanza at the southern end of the lake on Sunday evening after the weather suddenly turned violent.
"The bodies of four people have been found," fire department spokesman Luca Cari told AFP.
Two of the victims are Italians employed by their country's intelligence services.
"During the evening of May 28, following a nautical accident caused by a violent whirlwind, Mr. Claudio Alonzi, 62 years old, (...) and Mrs. Tiziana Barnobi, 53 years old, lost These two people, belonging to intelligence, were in the region to participate in a convivial meeting organized on the occasion of the birthday of one of the participants, "explained in a press release the Italian security services.
According to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, one of the dead is an Israeli citizen in his "fifties" and "former member of the security forces".
According to local online news site Varese News, the fourth victim is a Russian citizen.
The president of the Lombardy region, Attilio Fontana, had deplored Sunday evening a "very serious incident" caused by a "whirlwind".
About 20 surviving passengers were rescued by other boats in the vicinity or were able to swim to shore, Italian media reported.
A video made by firefighters showed a search helicopter hovering over rough water where chairs and other debris were floating.
Lake Maggiore, a popular tourist destination lying in the southern Alps on the Italian-Swiss border, is the second largest lake in Italy after Lake Garda.
05/29/2023 19:54:39 - Rome (AFP) - © 2023 AFP
