A young skipper could have been killed by toxic fumes from a yacht’s chemical toilet.
Giovanni Marchionni was working on a 17metre-long motorboat after the owner and her family set off for a two-week holiday at sea.
The 21-year-old had secured the gig just weeks after getting his boating licence.
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But last Friday morning (8 Aug), he was found unresponsive in the tiny cabin he was sleeping in by a horrified marina worker in Portisco, north-eastern Sardinia.
The mayor of his hometown, Josi Gerardo Della Ragione, described the cabin as “so cramped that two people couldn’t fit inside”.
Investigators believe Giovanni had been dead for several hours before he was found.
Early indications suggest he may have been overcome by fumes, possibly from the yacht’s batteries or chemical toilet, it is claimed.
A young woman was reportedly with Giovanni the night before his death but left after noticing a “bad smell”.
The other guests were not on the vessel at the time, as reported by Need To Know.
Specialist hazardous-substance teams, police, and harbour authorities attended the scene, and the yacht has been seized for further examination.
Giovanni’s grieving family say he had been hired as the skipper for the Costa Smeralda trip, working cash-in-hand and off the books.
The yacht’s owner – a businesswoman from Baiae, near Naples – insisted he was there as a holiday guest.
Giovanni, from Bacoli, worked at a shipyard in Licola and leaves behind his parents and four siblings.
His body will undergo a post-mortem on Wednesday (13 Aug) as part of a manslaughter investigation launched by the Tempio Pausania prosecutor’s office.
Mayor Josi paid tribute: “A cheerful young man, loved by many. A dreamer who loved the sea.”
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