[sonicl]

This, in my opinion, is the truly saddest musician death out there, both because of the circumstances and because she seems to have been a genuinely decent person:

 

After the success of "Tropical Brainstorm", Kirsty MacColl decided to take a much needed holiday. She went to Cozumel, Mexico, along with her partner, musician James Knight, and her sons. She intended to introduce her sons during the trip to an activity she loved - scuba diving.

On December 18, 2000, she and her sons went diving in Cozumel, in a specific diving area that watercraft were restricted from entering. With the group was a local veteran divemaster, Ivan Diaz. As the group was surfacing from a dive, a speeding powerboat entered the restricted area. MacColl saw the boat coming for her sons. Louis was not in the boat's path, but Jamie was. She was able to push him out of the way (he sustained minor head and rib injuries) but in doing so, the boat hit her and she was killed instantly.

It was subsequently discovered that the boat was owned by Mexican supermarket millionaire Guillermo González Nova (owner of Comercial Mexicana), who was on board with several members of his family. A boathand, José Cen Yam, claimed to have been driving the boat when the accident occurred. However, several eyewitnesses have indicated that Cen Yam was not at the controls; eyewitnesses also indicate that González Nova's boat was traveling at far higher speeds at the time of the accident than the one knot claimed by González Nova.

Cen Yam was found guilty of culpable homicide and was initially sentenced to 2 years 10 months; he was, however, under Mexican law, allowed to pay a punitive fine of 1034 pesos (about US$90) in lieu of a prison sentence of that many days. He was also ordered to pay approximately US$2150 in restitution to MacColl's family, an amount based on his meager wages. A British newspaper report in 2005 claimed that Cen Yam had been heard saying he had bought a house with money he had been paid for taking the blame for the incident.