THE head of the publishing house responsible for the Harry Potter series has died in a boating accident on Italy's Amalfi coast.
Adrienne Vaughan, president of Bloomsbury USA, was killed in the horror speedboat crash while onboard with her husband and two children.
Adrienne, 45, her husband Mike and children, Leanna, 14, and Mason, 11, chartered a boat to tour Italy's southern coast yesterday.
At around 6.30pm, their seven metre pleasure boat collided with a 45 metre Tortuga ship filled with 85 people celebrating a wedding near to Fiordo di Furore.
American and German holidaymakers were in the middle of the wedding banquet when the tragedy occurred, local media claimed.
Adrienne was reportedly thrown into the water and fatally struck by the boat's propellers.
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Helicopters and ambulances rushed to the scene but the 45-year-old was declared dead.
Her husband was also thrown from the boat and reportedly suffered serious limb injuries, including a dislocated shoulder and lacerated wounds.
The children are reported to have been uninjured but are in shock.
The boat's skipper was also injured and taken to hospital along with Mike.
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The wedding guests – said to have been shaken – returned to port to be questioned by police over the crash.
An investigation into the collision has now been launched by the Amalfi Port Authority.
It is currently unclear how the two boats collided.
The pleasure boat company in Nerano said: "We are shocked, we are waiting to know the facts," local media reported.
Adrienne was made US president of Bloomsbury publishing house in 2021.
She had previously been involved with famous projects including the Harry Potter series.
A former colleague has described her as a "charismatic true chief".
They wrote on LinkedIn: "She was my coach and my mentor. I cherished working along with her on daily basis. It was at all times prepared to assist others."
Only two days before the tragedy, the family had visited Rome and taken pictures in front of iconic landmarks, including the Trevi Fountain and the Colosseum.
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