Police and fire investigators are looking into the cause of a fire that destroyed and sank a yacht in Sydney Harbour, Australia. The vessel is reportedly 59m Andiamo from Azzura Yachts, however, this is yet to be confirmed, with images of the incident appearing to show a yacht under 30m.
Authorities were called to the scene at around 8pm on Saturday night to find the vessel engulfed in the blaze.
“Initial firefighting efforts were to not only extinguish the fire but stop it spreading to a number of high-value vessels that were moored alongside the motor yacht,” says Adam Dewberry, Superintendent, Fire and Rescue NSW. “A young dockworker on-site at the time moved those other vessels away from the fire.”
Firefighters worked through the night to put out the blaze, which was eventually extinguished around 6am on Sunday morning. Dewberry says the yacht was filled with 4000 litres of diesel on Saturday, which added to the extremity of the fire.
“It took so long to extinguish the fire because it’s a large vessel, and we had no access onto the yacht itself; it just wasn’t safe to get on board,” he says. “The fuel loading of these vessels is quite high – fibreglass, plastics, foams, polyurethanes, any number of things you would associate with any [vessel] of luxury that has accommodation facilities.”
The multimillion-dollar yacht is reportedly owned by Sandy Oatley, the son of the late Hamilton Island owner, Bob Oatley. The Oatley family also owns Wild Oats XI, the nine-time line honours winner of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race.
No one was injured during the incident. Marine Area Command is continuing the investigation into the cause of the fire.
