Video: Four killed when tourist boat capsized in Lake Maggiore in Italy (Reuters)
Italian Mossad and intelligence personnel aboard the boat that capsized in Lake Maggiore worked to prevent Iran from acquiring strategic weapons, the Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported on Friday. The newspaper speculated that the capsizing of the boat, which killed a former Mossad operative and two Italian intelligence officers along with the captain's Russian wife, was an accident. However, it led to the exposure of the sensitive activity.
Yesterday, Corriere della Sera newspaper reported that the region was rife with activity by Russian oligarchs involved in transferring Iranian drones to Moscow. According to the report, both Israel and Italy may have an interest in monitoring this activity. The two countries provided few details about the incident, which took place last Sunday, but Italian media published numerous reports indicating that it was a meeting between intelligence officials from both countries.
According to one report in Italy, Mossad personnel on the boat did not plan the trip in advance, but decided to leave at the last minute, after their meeting was prolonged and they missed their flight. This week M. was buried in Ashkelon in a funeral attended by Mossad head Dadi Barnea.
Rescue operations on Lake Maggiore, this week (Photo: GettyImages)
The boat's captain, Claudio Crimanti, is suspected of manslaughter because the vessel had 23 passengers on board while it was only allowed to carry up to 15 passengers. "It was an apocalypse in 30 seconds," he said during questioning. "The boat capsized immediately and we fell into the water."
Due to the stormy weather, the boat encountered extremely strong winds under a cloud of thunderstorm, which in extreme cases can even cause a tornado. The captain claimed during his interrogation that there were no warnings about the expected weather.
According to eyewitnesses, the yacht capsized within seconds, and four of its passengers drowned to death. The rest of the passengers started swimming toward the beach, which was about 150 meters away. At this point, several vessel owners who managed to reach the shore decided to return to the water and try to help the survivors, risking their lives.
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