A special occasion to celebrate, a meeting with friends, turned into tragedy on Sunday evening on Lake Maggiore, between Sesto Calende and Lisanza, in the province of Varese, where in the shipwreck of a tourist boat, a House boat, two Italian intelligence agents, a former member of the Israeli security forces and the shipowner's partner, lost their lives. of Russian origin. The boat on which they were traveling, according to the reconstructions of the investigators, due to a sudden discharge of rain and wind, first capsized and then sank, throwing most of the twenty-four passengers into the water, twenty of whom managed to save themselves.

The Public Prosecutor's Office of Busto Arsiziohas opened an investigation to shed light on the incident.

VVF

Lake Maggiore: a boat with 25 people on board capsizes

The "Goduria", as the boat of Carlo Carminati, 53 years old from Monvalle (Varese), who lived on that boat with his partner Anya Bozhkova, 50, one of the victims of the tragedy, was launched in the mid-80s, a sixteen meters that from the technical sheet published on the booking site, could accommodate 15 people.

The boat set sail from the 'Piccaluga' shipyard in Sesto Calende (Varese) for an organized trip, perhaps a meeting between acquaintances for a birthday party, as announced by the delegated authority for the security of the Republic, and then headed towards Arona (Novara). Around 19 pm, however, the bad weather surprised several boats, including Goduria itself, with strong wind and heavy rain, concentrated in a few minutes. Overwhelmed by a "water bomb", the boat capsized near Lisanza, a hamlet of Sesto Calende, dragging the occupants into the cold waters of the lake. All except Anya who, according to an indirect testimony, would have instead just gone below deck with her dog, because she was frightened by bad weather.

ANSA/VVF

A house-boat overturns on Lake Maggiore

Some residents of the area witnessed the arrival of first aid. "We heard screams and went out," said one woman, "shortly after we heard sirens and saw helicopters," she added. "I saw a boy coming, I think the first survivor, he swam up here and raised the alarm," said another resident, "fortunately ambulances, firefighters and carabinieri arrived immediately."

The first body to be recovered, late yesterday evening, was that of the 50-year-old Israeli security forces pensioner, as confirmed by the Jerusalem Foreign Ministry, spotted by the fire brigade helicopter. The second body recovered was that of Claudio Alonzi, originally from Alatri, in the Frusinate, 62 years old employed by the Italian secret services, also recovered by flight specialists, while that of Tiziana Barnobi, 53 years old from Trieste, married with a minor son, also an employee of the Italian intelligence sector, and that of Anya Bozhkova were recovered by divers, Not far from the wreck, about 16 meters deep. "I'm upset, I didn't know he was on that boat, then this morning I got the terrible news," said Alonzi's cousin, who is married and father of two. While the comings and goings of the rescue vehicles followed one another, a friend of Anya Bozhkova arrived at the shipyard from which the boat had sailed: "I hoped to arrive and find out it was not really the two of them, but unfortunately it is so", she said with a voice broken by tears, "they lived on board, it was their home, I had made a trip once". With the help of special compressed air balloons, the firefighters of the diving units of Milan and Turin, with the support of the aquatic rescue specialists of Varese, recovered the sunken boat. In order to give certain answers on any human responsibility in the tragedy, accurate investigative investigations will be necessary, starting from compliance with safety rules on board and the number of people present compared to the transport capacity of the boat.

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House-boat capsizes on Lake Maggiore, missing