Italian police treating death of Playboy model who drowned on boat trip with Brit photographer as 'tragic accident'

@galinamodel
Kit Heren11 September 2020

Italian police are treating the death of a Russian Playboy model who drowned while swimming in the sea with a British photographer as a "tragic accident".

Galina Fedorova, 32, died off the coast of the island of Sardinia on Saturday after going for a swim off a rented dinghy during a photoshoot with Yev Tarasovs, originally from Latvia.

Mr Tarasovs, 42, also went swimming and was hauled out of the water by tourists after around an hour after the dinghy floated off.

Ms Fedorova was found unconscious by a separate group of tourists and died shortly afterwards.

"She was foaming at the mouth when she was spotted, meaning she had drunk sea water, and she died as the tourists tried to resuscitate her,” a local police official told the Times.

Detectives are not treating the tragedy as a criminal incident. Mr Taranovs, from Twickenham, was treated for shock and told police he lost sight of Ms Fedorova after they jumped in.

“He told us they went for a swim, but they did not anchor the vessel, which was a poor decision,” said the official.

“We found two empty wine bottles in the dinghy when we recovered it, which suggests they were not clear-headed. They jumped in, leaving the boat to drift, only to see it being taken away, further out to sea by strong currents."

Ms Fedorova's mother paid tribute to her daughter on Instagram.

“They decided to go out to sea in a rented six-seater motor boat. Apart from them, there was no one else,” she wrote.

“She rolled onto her back to rest. After another wave, she disappeared from sight. Yev heard her shout something and nothing else.”

A police official said: “We are treating this as a tragic incident caused by terrible misjudgment.”