Bloomsbury USA publishing house chief Adrienne Vaughan, 44, whose company is best known for the “Harry Potter” book, died on the spot, her husband sustained injuries. While both of their kids— daughter Leanna, 14, and son Mason, 11—remained unharmed, they were treated for traumatic shock.
“Adrienne Vaughan was a leader of dazzling talent and infectious passion and had a deep commitment to authors and readers,” said the association’s board chair, Julia Reidhead, and its president and CEO, Maria A Pallante, in a joint statement.
According to Italian state TV, the crash knocked Adrienne into the water, where she landed between the hulls of the two vessels, and was struck fatally by the motorboat’s propeller.
“She didn’t have an arm and the nape of her neck was white, as if no blood was flowing,” Pietro Iuzzolino, a bartender on the sailing ship “Tortuga”, told the Italian newspaper Corriere del Mezzogiorno. “It was terrible.”
The driver of the speed boat, the 30-year-man old whose name has not been revealed, was also injured in the crash, and reportedly failed toxicology tests after the crash, suggesting that he was drunk at the time of the accident, Italian news agency ANSA reported.
“We got the impression he was drunk,” Iuzzolino, who saw the speedboat driver vomiting after the crash, was quoted as saying.
When her condition deteriorated, an air ambulance was also called to the area. But by the time it arrived around 7 pm (local time), she was declared dead.
