The Goduria, a birthday tourist boat which overturned in a Whirlwind on Italy’s lake Maggiore, carrying 22 passengers and two crew on board, killing four people on Sunday. The dead included  Caludio Alonzi (62), Tiaziana Barnobi (53), who both worked for Italy’s intelligence service, and had gone to the lake to celebrate a birthday.

The captain’s Russian wife Anay Bozhova (50) and unnamed former Israeli security forces member also died, when the boat capsized and sank off the town of Lisanza. Miraculously the captain survived the incident.

Twenty people managed to swim to shore or were rescued before the bodies of the dead were recovered. Five survivors were taken to the local hospital two of them in critical condition, while the rest were treated at the scene.

The lake is a popular destination for British travellers and some reports suggested that UK citizens were present in the boat party.

Fifteen people died earlier this month in floods that hit Italy’s Emilia Romagna region.