ROME — A U.S. publishing executive died in a boating accident off Italy’s Amalfi Coast, her company said Friday.
Adrienne Vaughan, 45, was president of Bloomsbury Publishing Inc., the company headquartered in New York said.
The rented motorboat Vaughan and her family were on during a vacation to the popular tourist destination crashed into a sailboat Thursday, Italian state TV said.
According to Italian media reports, the motorboat, rented through a skipper, slammed into the sailboat, which was carrying dozens of U.S. and German tourists, including some celebrating a wedding.
The impact of the crash knocked the woman into the water, where she was struck repeatedly by the motorboat’s propeller, the reports said.
She was pulled out of the water and brought to a dock but died by the time a helicopter ambulance arrived, state TV said.
The Italian coast guard office in Amalfi was investigating the crash. A call to its office wasn’t answered, nor was there a response to an emailed request to the Coast Guard for details.
The victim’s husband was hospitalized with a shoulder injury while the couple’s two young children were uninjured, according to the reports.
No one aboard the sailboat, which had more than 80 U.S. and German tourists and the crew members on board, was injured.
A blood test for the skipper of the motorboat tested positive for substance use, reported Italian news agency ANSA, which didn’t indicate whether the result indicated alcohol or drug consumption. The skipper, an Italian about 30 years old, suffered a broken pelvis and ribs, ANSA said.
There was no answer at the courthouse in the southern of port city of Salerno, where prosecutors were overseeing the investigation.
When the motorboat crashed, it had been headed to Positano, one of the most popular destinations along the Amalfi Coast, Italian media said.
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