German tourists investigated in Italy for fatal boat crash

ROME (AP) — Two German tourists from Munich are being investigated in Italy for a boat collision on Lake Garda which killed an Italian man and woman, Italian Carabinieri paramilitary police said.

Italian state RaiNews24 TV said that investigators were awaiting results on Monday of blood analyses to determine if the tourists had been drinking before the crash. It said both are free on their own recognizance while under investigation for alleged manslaughter and failure to provide assistance.

The woman’s body was recovered from the lake by Italian firefighter rescue divers on Sunday evening and the man’s body was found in their small boat earlier in the day.

Carabinieri officers at the station investigating the crash weren’t immediately available for comment.

Corriere della Sera said the victims’ boat was badly gashed one one side near the bow and that the man, 37, had suffered a grave abdominal wound. One of the legs of the 25-year-old woman’s legs was partially torn off, it said. A search had been launched for the woman after women’s clothing was found on the boat where the man’s body was lying.

Police located the tourists after people noticed their docked motorboat was damaged, the Italian daily said.

The lake with its many shoreline resorts in northern Italy is very popular with European visitors.

The Italians reportedly had met with friends on shore Saturday evening, then headed out on the man’s boat, and were about mid-lake when the vessel was struck by the motorboat. Corriere della Sera said investigators found pieces of wood from the Italian man’s boat imbedded in the tourists’ boat.