The speedboat driver who accidentally struck and killed British singer Kirsty MacColl has been released on bail, according to officials in Cozumel, Mexico, where the incident occurred Monday.

Police are investigating whether Jose Cenyam was illegally driving in a designated swimming area or MacColl and her two sons, who were unharmed in the accident, were swimming outside the restricted zone. The case is being treated as a negligent homicide.

MacColl's body was flown home on Thursday, according to Reuters, from Cozumel, a coral island off Mexico's Caribbean coast, where MacColl and her family were vacationing.

MacColl, daughter of folksinger Ewan MacColl, collaborated with such musicians as the Pogues, the Rolling Stones, Talking Heads, Simple Minds and the Smiths in a two-decade career. She released her latest album, Tropical Brainstorm, earlier this year.

Friends of the singer said MacColl was enjoying the happiest year of her life before the accident.

"In the last interview I conducted with Kirsty, [she said] the year 2000 had been the best she could remember and that she'd be spending Christmas at home with her family," said Graham X, editor of the MacColl fanzine Electric Rentbook. "The events of this week have certainly changed that." MacColl's children have been with their father, U2 and Dave Matthews Band producer Steve Lillywhite, since the accident.

"Like all the other people who knew Kirsty or who simply just loved her music, the events in Mexico have left a cloud of unbelievable sorrow raining down on us," Graham X said. "A young, talented life, gone so tragically and so unnecessarily."