Superyacht ‘Manhattan’ Sinks after Fire at Portosole Sanremo, Italy 3 August, 2012
Portosole Sanremo was witness to a fire that claimed two yachts, the 23m Pershing, Ibris and 4m Maiora-built Manhattan.
Lena Sundell, the yacht manager at Sanremo ASP Yacht Management, reports that the fire began on the Ibis at approximately 4am on August 29th, and was apparently caused by an accident in the kitchen that involved an oil-spill while preparing a meal. The fire is then thought to have spread across the deck compromising the neighboring Manhattan. The fire burned for several hours before it was extinguished. The fire began and spread so quickly that there was little chance to effectively use fire extinguishers.
The second yacht was quickly towed out to open water to keep the fire from causing any more damage. Fortunately there were no reported injuries but the vessel was a total loss and while it has initially been ruled and accident police say that an investigation will be conducted. A police spokesman said that there was no indication of anything other than an accident however. This investigation is expected to last for several days, possibly longer because both vessels are on the bottom, making recovery and inspection of evidence difficult.
The investigation will be used to clarify all pertinent details in regards of this matter. According to the local coast guard and the fire department, the results of the investigation will be released in due time. As for Ibrisand Manhattan, very little could be done to prevent them from sinking, both vessels sank a few hours after the fire begun. No other vessels were seriously damaged although several would need to be thoroughly cleaned because of ashes and smoke from the twin fires. The surrounding docks were also relatively undamaged.