The German pilot of a speedboat involved in a fatal accident on Lake Garda in June has turned himself to police and is being held in custody in the northern Italian city of Brescia, his lawyers said on Monday.

The 52-year-old from Munich turned himself in at Brenner on the border between Italy and Austria overnight, a spokesman for the lawyers told dpa, he was then taken to Brescia.

The man and another German man of the same age were accused of ramming a boat occupied by an Italian couple on the lake and failing to stop to offer assistance, The couple, a man aged 37 and his partner aged 25, both died in the accident.

The two Germans face charges of manslaughter and failing to stop to offer assistance, according to their lawyers, they say that they did not notice the collision.

The two men were initially allowed to leave Italy to return to Germany, but the Italian authorities subsequently put out a European arrest warrant to bring them back to the country.

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According to the investigation, the accident occurred late on June 19, or early on June 20.

The Italian couples were sitting in a small rowing boat on the west bank of the lake; the body of the man was recovered in the boat and that of his partner from the lake.

The incident sparked widespread media coverage in both Italy and Germany.