Prosecutors charge boat driver with murder after fatal Lake Constance crash

A 26-year-old man is due to stand trial before a jury in Feldkirch on Tuesday on suspicion of murder following a fatal boat collision on Lake Constance, ORF reported. A woman died and her husband was seriously injured when the man’s motorboat struck their sailing boat.

The man was initially charged with negligent homicide. That case ended in April 2026 when the judge ruled that the court lacked jurisdiction, saying the allegation that he had driven straight ahead for six minutes without seeing a sailing boat with 24 square metres of sail was not convincing.

“If you look straight ahead for that long and knowingly drive towards the boat, then that is not gross negligence. Then it is murder,” the judge said. A jury court is responsible for such a charge.

Prosecutors subsequently charged the man with murder, attempted murder and endangering physical safety. Without mitigating circumstances, he faces at least 10 years in prison.

The accident happened on 11 October 2025 near Fußach on Lake Constance. The defendant allegedly drove his motorboat at 60 kilometres per hour, above the permitted maximum of 40 kilometres per hour. A 57-year-old woman died in the collision, while her husband escaped into the water but suffered serious injuries.

The surviving victim testified that he had not seen anyone at the motorboat’s controls. He and his wife had shouted and waved, but the boat continued straight ahead “like a ghost ship”.

At the April hearing, the defendant accepted responsibility for the accident but denied travelling at excessive speed. He also said he had neither seen the sailing boat nor noticed the collision. The three people who were travelling with him supported his account. An expert who testified in court said he could not reconcile those statements with the evidence.