As we look into this story, there are still more questions than answers. But here’s what happened.
At 2:30 pm on Saturday July 27, the 122-foot motor yacht Lovebug was motoring off Edgewater, Maryland, when it suddenly began listing heavily to starboard. Trevor Hardmon was in his own boat nearby and realized that the $8 million-dollar yacht was starting to roll over and sink.
There were five people on the yacht’s transom who were in trouble, so Hardman called the Coast Guard.
“I would say within four to five minutes the boat was consumed and the captain had made the determination that they needed to abandon ship.”
The passengers and presumably the crew jumped into the water as the Lovebug steadily sank and were soon rescued by the rescue services that arrived on station.
“It could have been a lot worse had everybody not remained calm and spoke on the radio and were clear to make sure that everybody was accounted for,” Hardman said.
The skipper, who was not named, could offer no explanation for the cause of the flooding and sinking of the yacht. It will have to be salvaged and inspected to determine what actually happened.
After the crew was rescued, the local marine authorities laid out containment booms in case fuel began leaking from the yacht’s tank but they did not report any pollution. Read more here.
Watch a local news report here.
