Two members of the Italian intelligence service were among four people who died after a tourist boat capsized on Lake Maggiore, officials say.

A pensioner, who was formerly a member of the Israeli security forces, and the Russian wife of the boat captain also died in the accident, Israel’s foreign ministry and local media said.

The 16m-long (52.5ft) boat was carrying 25 people when it was hit by a sudden, violent storm on Sunday evening, sinking the vessel near the town of Lisanza.

Most of the passengers and crew managed to escape by either swimming ashore or being pulled to safety by other boats.

The dead Italians were named as Claudio Alonzi, 62, and Tiziana Barnobi, 53, with the senior government official tasked with overseeing Italy’s secret services, Alfredo Mantovano, expressing his sympathy to the families of the victims.

No immediate information was given about what they did in the intelligence service. Meanwhile, Italian media said they had gone to Lake Maggiore to celebrate a friend’s birthday.

Israel’s foreign ministry said it was working with diplomats to bring home the body of the Israeli, whose name was not given. The Russian victim was identified as Anya Bozhkova, 50.

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She was the wife of the captain and owner of the pleasure boat, the “Goduria”. He survived the incident.

The sinking was the latest in a series of disasters linked to extreme weather, with 15 people dying earlier this month in floods that hit the northern region of Emilia Romagna.

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Six months ago, 12 people died on the southern island of Ischia in a landslide triggered by torrential rain, while 11 people were killed last September by flash floods in the central region of Marche.

Last July, an ice avalanche in the Italian Alps killed 11 people following a heatwave that exacerbated the worst drought that Italy has suffered for at least 70 years.

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