Adrienne Vaughan was the name of the American tourist (and not English as it was initially learned) who died yesterday afternoon in an accident at sea on the Amalfi Coast.
The woman was president of Bloomsbury USA , an American subsidiary of Bloomsbury Publishing, a British publishing house that published the Harry Potter novels.
Vaughan, 45, was aboard a chauffeured motorboat with husband Mike, 12-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son. After visiting Rome they had decided to stay in Amalfi. But yesterday afternoon, during a sea excursion, something went wrong. The boat hired with driver, for reasons still under investigation, collided with the "Tortuga", a 45-metre sailing ship used for exclusive events . On board, in fact, there were about eighty foreign tourists who were celebrating a wedding.
The impact was extremely violent: Vaughan ended up in the water near the propellers, suffering deep and serious injuries which caused her death . Her husband Mike suffered a bruise on his shoulder and some wounds for which he was treated, together with his two children (who remained unharmed), at the Ravello hospital. The skipper of the motorboat, on the other hand, suffered an injury to his arm.
Investigations are underway by the Amalfi Port Authority which, also thanks to the testimony of witnesses, will have to try to reconstruct the dynamics of the tragedy.
The drivers of the two boats (which were seized) were subjected to toxicological tests : the skipper of the motorboat tested positive .
(Unioneonline/vl)