Greek authorities arrested the entire 13-member crew of a 176-foot superyacht last weekend and charged them with setting off fireworks that burned 3,000 acres and the entire pine forest on the island of Hydra, south of Athens.
The fire started Friday evening. Prosecutors in Piraeus say the captain of another superyacht in the area told them that the fireworks came from the yacht Persefoni 1. The crew was arrested when the yacht docked near Athens on Saturday, and they appeared in court on Sunday facing arson charges.
“What was destroyed was an absolutely beautiful pine forest and on the night in question, because of the winds, fireworks were banned,” said Hydra’s mayor, Giorgos Koukoudakis. “To use them was utterly irresponsible.”
Greece is in the midst of a heat wave. Indeed, the U.S. Embassy there had issued a Natural Disaster Alert earlier Friday warning of the risks of potential wildfires and the extreme temperatures in the region.
Firefighters brought the Hydra fire under control on Saturday. There is no road access to the beach there. They had to drop water from two helicopters and six planes and land two firefighting teams from boats. Prosecutors say the Hydra fire used resources and manpower that could have been sent to fight several other fires across the country last weekend.
The Persefoni 1 (pictured) holds 12 guests in six cabins and has 13 crew. It charters for a base price of $320,000 a week during the summer in the Med. The guests on board were Kazakh nationals.
Read more at https://maritime-executive.com/article/prosecutors-seek-arrest-of-yacht-s-passengers-for-sparking-a-wildfire and see the video below:
