Shipwreck on Lake Maggiore in Italy: two Italian spies and an Israeli killed

Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credits: Handout / VIGILI DEL FUOCO / AFP 21:16 p.m., May 29, 2023

Four people, including two Italian intelligence agents and a former member of the Israeli security forces, were killed when a tourist boat sank on Lake Maggiore in northern Italy in strong winds. The 16-meter-long vessel overturned Sunday night off Lisanza, at the southern end of the lake, after the weather suddenly turned to a violent thunderstorm. "The bodies of four people have been found," fire brigade 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 downspout, Mr. Claudio Alonzi, 62 years old, (...) and Ms. Tiziana Barnobi, 53, lost their lives. These two people, belonging to the intelligence, were in the region to participate in a friendly meeting organized on the occasion of the birthday of one of the participants," the Italian security services said in a statement.

A "very serious incident" caused by a "whirlwind"

According to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, one of the dead is an Israeli citizen in his "fifties" and a "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 two dozen surviving passengers were rescued by other boats nearby or were able to swim to shore, Italian media reported.

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A video taken by firefighters showed a search helicopter flying over rough waters where chairs and other debris floated. Lake Maggiore, a popular tourist destination in the southern Alps on the Italian-Swiss border, is the second largest lake in Italy after Lake Garda.