Two members of Italy’s intelligence services were among four people who died after a tourist boat sank on Lake Maggiore, officials said.
A pensioner, a former member of the Israeli security forces, and the Russian wife of the captain of the boat also died in the accident, the Israeli Foreign Ministry and local media said.
The 16-metre-long (52.5ft) boat was carrying 25 people when it was hit by a sudden and violent storm on Sunday evening, sinking the ship near the town of Lisanza.
Most passengers and crew managed to escape by swimming ashore or being pulled to safety by other ships.
The Italians who died were named Claudio Alonzi, 62, and Tiziana Barnobi, 53, the senior government official responsible for overseeing Italy’s secret service, Alfredo Mantovano, expressing sympathy to the families of the victims.
No immediate information was given about what they did in the intelligence service. Meanwhile, Italian media said they went to Lake Maggiore to celebrate a friend’s birthday.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said it was working with diplomats to bring back the body of the Israeli, whose name was not given. The Russian victim has been identified as Anya Bozhkova, 50.
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She was the wife of the captain and owner of the pleasure boat, the “Goduria”. He survived the incident.
The sinking was the latest in a series of extreme weather-related disasters, with 15 people dying earlier this month in floods that hit the northern region of Emilia-Romagna.
Six months ago, 12 people died on the southern island of Ischia in a landslide triggered by torrential rains, while 11 people were killed last September by flash floods in the central Marche region.
Last July, an ice avalanche in the Italian Alps killed 11 people following a heat wave that exacerbated Italy’s worst drought in at least 70 years.
