Tourist boat sinks in Italy killing four people

Four people have died after a boat capsized and sank during a sudden storm on Lake Maggiore in northern Italy.

The 50ft-long Goduria, described as a houseboat, was overturned after bad weather whipped up strong waves on Sunday evening.

The victims are an Italian man and an Italian woman, a Russian woman and an Israeli man, according to Italy’s national news agency.

On Monday, it emerged that the two Italians who died in the accident were members of the intelligence services.

They were named as Claudio Alonzi, 61, a father of two, and Tiziana Barnobi, 52, a mother of one child.

They, along with the other guests, were reportedly attending the birthday party of a work colleague. There may have been other intelligence operatives on board the vessel, Italian media reported.

The Russian citizen who died was named as Anya Bozhkova – the wife of the boat’s skipper, Claudio Carminati, who survived the accident.

The fourth person who died, an Israeli man, may have been a member of his country’s intelligence apparatus, Italian media reported.

Prosecutors have opened an investigation into how the boat capsized.

“The storm appeared all of a sudden, it was not forecast,” said Marina Morena, a friend of the skipper, insisting that he was an expert at navigating the lake.

Survivors swam to shore or were picked up by other boats in the area.

The accident took place between the towns of Arona and Sesto Calende.

The death toll had been cited as two when the news was announced early on Monday morning, but that figure subsequently rose to four.

A third body was found by divers at a depth of 16 metres while the fourth body was discovered inside the wreck of the boat. No other people are missing.

Five survivors were taken to hospital for treatment.

‘Whirlwind’ or ‘Twister’

Attilio Fontana, the governor of Lombardy region, said the “very serious” incident had been caused by a “whirlwind” or “twister” that swept across the lake.

Lake Maggiore, which extends from northern Italy into Switzerland, is a popular destination for tourists, offering boating, hiking and historic lakeside villas and gardens.

Many parts of Italy have endured wild weather in the last few weeks. Torrential rain in the northern region of Emilia-Romagna caused widespread flooding, 15 deaths and billions of euros worth of damage to farmland, property and infrastructure.

Climatologists say Italy’s climate is undergoing a process of “tropicalisation” as a result of global warming.