A lawyer is under investigation after his boat allegedly struck and killed a 31-year-old woman as she was kayaking.
Cristina Frazzica was killed as she and her friend Vincenzo Carmine Leone were out on the water.
Vincenzo, 33, told local media: “We were two hundred metres from the shore and about to return the kayak I had rented.
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“Unfortunately, it happened in just a few moments that I can’t even quantify.
“All I can say is I remember the bow, that bow that crashed into us.”
Vincenzo recalled how he and Cristina “instinctively” threw themselves into the water off Naples, Italy.
He said: “I jumped into the sea, then I remember curling up, trying to stay underwater as long as possible.
“I resurfaced, caught my breath, looked around, and saw Cristina again, unfortunately lifeless.”
Local media say Cristina was likely sliced by the cabin cruiser’s propeller on Sunday (9 Jun) afternoon.
Vincenzo swam back to the kayak, but when he reached it, he could no longer find her body.
The police identified boat owner Guido Furgiuele through CCTV footage, as reported on Need To Know.
The 48-year-old criminal law solicitor was steering the 18m-long cabin cruiser at the time of the impact.
When questioned, he told how in the immediate aftermath, neither he nor Vincenzo had realised that it was his boat that had struck the kayak.
He said: “My six guests and I didn’t feel any impact.
“One of my guests saw a young man waving at the stern and we turned back to help him.
“He said the girl had been hit by a very fast boat and we were convinced it wasn’t mine.
“We couldn’t do more than help him and raise the alarm.”
Guido works for one of Naples’ most famous law firms.
His boat was seized and he is now under investigation for manslaughter and failure to provide assistance.
The police say he may have been driving at high speed with reduced visibility.
Vincenzo said the boat was travelling “like a meteor” and had its bow in the air “as if it were rearing”.
Cristina was a drug development researcher from Taurianova but had been living in Voghera for some time.
Rescuers found her body not far from the impact site shortly after the alarm was raised.
She is survived by her parents and her twin sister.
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