The U.S. head of Bloomsbury US, publisher of the Harry Potter series, died Thursday in a horrific speedboat accident while vacationing with his family in Italy, officials said.

Adrian Vaughan, 45, was on a rented motorboat with her husband and two children when it reportedly collided with a sailing vessel called the Tortuga. The Tortuga was carrying a group of American and German tourists celebrating a wedding off Italy’s Amalfi Coast. according to evening standard. The impact of the collision threw him into the sea, where he was reportedly hit multiple times by the boat’s propeller.

A traveler who was CEO of the U.S. subsidiary of the British publisher that published Harry Potter in the UK has died in a boating accident off Italy’s Amalfi coast. https://t.co/c7iicfNgAE

— CNN (@CNN) August 4, 2023

Paramedics took Vaughan to a local medical facility for treatment, but said he died of his injuries before being airlifted to a hospital in Salerno. CNN. (Related: Report: Baby drowned while tied to boat while parents were cooking dinner in Fiji)

Salerno prosecutor Marinella Guglielmotti said an investigation had been launched against the captain of the ship the Vaughan family was on. CNN reports that a toxicology report found the captain’s blood alcohol level exceeded the legal limit. The Tortuga’s captain was not under investigation because he did not test positive for any substances, the newspaper said.

Both boats have been seized by Italian authorities, who are continuing to investigate the crash, the newspaper said.