A billionaire company director from the United Kingdom perished after being ejected from his boat when it collided with rocks off the coast of Italy.
Dean Kronsbein, 61, was on the deck of his 70-foot yacht Amore on Sunday when the captain had to make an evasive manoeuvre to avoid another vessel.
Dean was accompanied by his wife and daughter at the time.
The ship struck a group of rocks with such power that it lost its bow at Il Nibani, right off the coast of Porto Cervo on the island of Sardinia.
A passing Maltese-flagged vessel plucked Mr. Kronsbein from the ocean, but despite efforts to revive him, he was pronounced dead onboard.
Both his wife Sabine, 59, and daughter Sophia, 27, suffered critical injuries as well and were brought to a hospital in Olbia before being sent 60 miles away to a more specialised unit in Sassari.
Mr. Kronsbein was the proprietor of a Ross-on-Wye-based company called Ultrafilter Medical that produced highly specialised medical equipment and provided millions of masks during lockdown.
The family also owns a four-bedroom vila on the borders of Porto Cervo and the stunning county property worth £5 million Cubberley House, which is close to Ross on Wye.
Mr. Kronsbein was recently included in a Financial Times article on how foreign tourists were coming back to the millionaires’ playground near Porto Cervo.
We’ve been renting here every summer, so I felt it would be a good time to buy, he added while explaining how he had purchased his new house.
The houses are designed to fit in with the hillsides rather than stand out and ruin the scenery.
The TV host Richard Hammond and Prince Michael of Kent attended Mr. Kronsbein’s Bentley Drivers Club celebration last month, which was held in the 100-acre grounds of his seven-bedroom rural residence.
Mr. Kronsbein and his wife Sabine were devoted charity fundraisers, and he possessed a 1953 R Type continental Bentley.
Additionally, MailOnline can confirm that Mario Lallone, the captain of the Amore, is currently being questioned by local police and is also being investigated.
Other witnesses, including Mr. Kronsbein’s four friends who were on the yacht, as well as rescuers from other vessels that responded to the call for aid, will also be questioned.
As you can guess, this has been a tremendous shock for the family, according to Egidio Caredda, a family lawyer, who spoke to MailOnline.
“Mr. Kronsbein’s son called me to offer aid, and I am doing everything I can to help.”
The local law enforcement is still looking into the specifics, and we’ll be talking to witnesses to figure out exactly happened.
When he learned the news, Dustin Kronsbein, the father’s son, flew from England to be with his mother and sister.
They both have fairly serious injuries and are undergoing extensive medical care in a hospital.
Coastguard boats were used to move the yacht off of the rocks, and it has been detained while an inquiry is conducted.
In addition to sealing up the crash site yesterday, the Coast Guard is currently conducting an investigation.
An autopsy was reportedly scheduled to take place on Monday.
According to one account, the boat that ran aground was desperately trying to steer clear of another that didn’t have right of way when she hit the rocks.
On social media, a bystander reported seeing five ambulances surrounding a boat that was being pulled in last night at Porto Cervo. Doesn’t seem promising.
The Italian port of Monfalcone, close to Trieste, is where the MY Amore is registered. It’s unclear, though, if the deceased British national owned or had chartered the ship.
Coastguards published a photo of the rocks that the Amore impacted, and it was easy to see white paint from her hull on their surface.
Francesco Colarullo, commander of the coastguard, told Mail Online yesterday: “The damaged boat was carried back to Porto Cervo and has now been confiscated by the local prosecutor while the inquiry into exactly what transpired.”
We know that other vessels were in the region at the time, so it’s possible that speed was a factor.
The accident may have occurred when evasive action was being taken.
“Everything that could have been done was done to save the British man’s life, but there was nothing that could be done, and when he was found, he was unconscious.”
A rescue effort was started right away after the Amore sent out a mayday and reported that they were taking on water after hitting rocks.
Two coastguard vessels and a number of other pleasure boats were present at the time, according to the report.
‘We are providing help following a maritime tragedy in Sardinia, including to the family of a dual national who has perished,’ a UK Foreign Office spokeswoman said.
The local government is in touch with us.