It’s hard to think of a lot of things worse than a fire at sea. Perhaps a fire on an airplane? Fortunately for the seven passengers and four crew on board the superyacht If Only, when a fire broke out in the engine room a few days ago the 128-foot Feadship was only a few miles south of the Nice airport on the French Riviera. Someone in the airport tower saw smoke billowing from the yacht and notified first responders. A combination of six boats and 66 firefighters got everyone off the yacht safely, although one firefighter was taken to the hospital in Antibes suffering from noxious fumes. Fire then consumed the yacht; it sank in 2,000 feet of water that night.
The steel and aluminum yacht was launched as Walanka in 1974, and had a refit in 1989. It is now owned by Diana Bracco, the head of a Milan-based pharmaceutical group, who was on board with some friends and family at the time.
Here’s a video of the fire:
