Harry Potter publishing executive killed in horrific boat accident in front of family

A publishing executive has been killed in a horror boating accident off Italy's Amalfi Coast, where she was thrown overboard and fatally hit by a vessel's propeller.

Adrienne Vaughan, 45, who was president of Bloomsbury Publishing's US branch, was on a motorboat with her husband and two children headed towards Positano when it crashed into a sailboat on Thursday (local time). The motorboat was being driven by a hired skipper.

The sailboat is collided with was carrying more than 80 US and German tourists, who were celebrating a wedding onboard.

A wedding guest who was filming the dance floor at the time of the crash recorded the moment a woman is seen struggling in the water.

Ms Vaughan was pulled from the water and brought to a dock but died by the time a helicopter ambulance arrived, state TV said.

The Italian coast guard office in Amalfi was investigating the crash. The office did not respond to a call or an emailed request for more information.

Ms Vaughan's husband, Mike White, was hospitalised with a shoulder injury while the couple’s two young children were uninjured, according to the reports. No one aboard the sailboat was injured.

Skipper was under the influence

A blood test for the skipper of the motorboat tested positive for substance use, according to Italian news agency ANSA, which didn't indicate whether the result indicated alcohol or drug consumption. The skipper, an Italian about 30 years old, suffered a broken pelvis and ribs, ANSA said.

There was no answer at the courthouse in the southern of port city of Salerno, where prosecutors were overseeing the investigation into the accident.

Ms Vaughan, who had a master's degree in business from New York University, had worked at the Disney Book Group and Oxford University Press among other companies before joining Bloomsbury in 2020 as executive editor and COO. She was promoted to president a year later and also served on the board of the industry trade group the Association of American Publishers.

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“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. “Most of all she was an extraordinary human being, and those of us who had the opportunity to work with her will be forever fortunate."

Bloomsbury publishes a wide range of books, including the blockbuster Harry Potter series. It counts writers ranging from bestselling novelists Sarah J. Maas and Susanna Clarke to historian Mark Kurlansky among its roster of authors.

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