‘Secret agents’ dead after boat capsizes during party on Italian lake
On Sunday evening, four people died on Lake Maggiore after a small boat carrying them sank off the coast of the cities of Sesto Calende and Arona, on the border between Lombardy and Piedmont, Italy. Two of the victims have since been identified as Italian intelligence agents.
The boat, called “Good…uria”, was carrying about twenty people: five of these were rescued and taken to hospital.
From the outset it was assumed that the boat was carrying a group of tourists of various nationalities who were celebrating a birthday.
According to a reconstruction confirmed to the Agi news agency by Italian intelligence sources, they were Italians, Israelis and Russians who “were in the area to participate in a convivial meeting organised on the occasion of the birthday celebration of one of the party”.
The identities of the dead are known, two men and two women whose bodies were recovered by fire brigade divers.
Two of the victims have been named as Claudio Alonzi (62 years old) and Tiziana Barnobi (53 years old), who were Italians and employees of the Intelligence Department of the Information System for the Security of the Republic, according to the authorities that manage the Italian secret services.
Among the Israelis on board were also state officials, serving or retired, but it is not clear how many.
The other dead woman was Anya Bozhkova, 50, a Russian citizen and wife of the boat’s commander, Claudio Carminati, who survived. Finally, a retiree of the Israeli security forces, Shimoni Erez, 50, also died.
The other 21 people who were on the boat were rescued, some of whom were rushed to hospital following the incident.
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The boat capsized about 150metres from shore, and some of the people on board managed to swim that distance once they fell into the water.
It is not clear exactly why the boat capsized: according to Attilio Fontana, president of the Lombardy Region, the cause was a sudden whirlwind in the lake. Several Italian newspapers also reported that a storm created a “small hurricane” on the waters of the lake.
Repubblica writes that the boat, 16metres long, was registered to accommodate 15 people, ten fewer than the 25 actually present for Sunday evening’s outing.
The “Good…uria” was a so-called house boat, or rather a small boat that is rented for a few hours or a day with a package that includes the presence of a skipper and the possibility of eating on board.
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