JERUSALEM - The Israeli newspaper "Maariv" revealed on Tuesday evening the scenes of the capsizing of a tourist boat in Lake Maggiore in northern Italy on Monday, where a group of intelligence agents from Italy and the Israeli Mossad met on board.

According to Italian media, 4 people drowned and 5 others were injured when a tourist boat capsized with about 25 people on board, and among the dead were two members of the Italian intelligence and an Israeli in his fifties, and the fourth victim is a Russian citizen.

Israeli agents reportedly left Italy on an Israeli military flight in a hurry on Tuesday morning, leaving behind the rental cars they used on the trip.

According to the Israeli newspaper's website, Italian and Israeli intelligence officers attended secret meetings in the Lombardy region, during which they exchanged classified information and documents. Due to the length of the meetings, the Israelis were late for the flight and decided to extend their stay and spend the weekend in the area.

One of the intelligence officers present at the meetings apparently knew the captain and offered to sail his yacht to celebrate the birthday of an intelligence officer.

The investigation into the case showed that the captain ignored weather forecasts that alerted that the sea was rough and winds could reach speeds of up to 100 kilometers per hour, so much so that flights in the area were delayed.

The captain, who lost his partner in the cruise yacht capsizing disaster, is also suspected of putting 23 passengers on his boat, which is only 15 meters long, despite its capacity of only 15 people.

According to Maariv, it seemed like a routine incident, but the mystery surrounding the identity of the Israeli victim and the events that followed the capsizing of the tourist boat raised many questions.

Secret meeting

For its part, the Italian newspaper "Corriere della Sera" reported that the meeting of passengers on board the tourist yacht, initially published as a "birthday party", was a secret meeting between Italian and Israeli intelligence agents.

The newspaper "La Repubblica" that there were on board the yacht 25 agents of the Italian intelligence service and the Israeli Mossad, noting that Tel Aviv returned – within a secret operation – 10 intelligence agents from the Mossad who were participating in the meeting, on board a military plane of the Israeli Air Force.

The newspaper explained that after the capsizing of the tourist boat, the Italian intelligence agents were extricated and taken out in a secret operation from the emergency rooms, so that their identities would not be revealed.

According to the website of Maariv, the officers of the Israeli intelligence service (Mossad) who were on board the tourist boat that sank in Italy's Lake Maggiore, did not plan the cruise in advance, but decided to proceed at the last minute, after their meeting was protracted and delayed for the flight to return to Israel.

Due to the inclement weather, the cruise boat was trapped in very strong winds under a great "cumulus" cloud, causing the ship to capsize in seconds and drown 4 of its passengers, while the other passengers swam towards the banks of the lake, which was about 150 meters away.