Motor Yacht Burns and Sinks in Korcula Channel

A 21 meter motor yacht titled La Belle with Croatian flag and four persons onboard, went on fire and then sank in the Korcula channel, North Dalmatia islands in Croatia on Saturday 24 June at around 13:00 hours.  The motor yacht was cruising in the Korcula channel between the islands of Korcula, Hvar, and Vis when it developed a fire.  Immediate the response of the Croatia safety agencies with a rescue boat departing the port of Lostovo first on the scene and saving the four crew members, and a fire brigade from Smokvica arriving a bit later to extinguish the yacht fire, with no success as it eventually burned down and sank in a depth of about seventy meters.  No injuries where sustained by the four crew, and the yacht left no pollution in the aftermath of the fire.  According to the crew testimony the yacht fire was developed from one of the engines.

M/y La Belle is a Yaretti 2110 from 1994, refitted in 2015, and was powered by twin Man 680hp engines with accommodation for eight guests in four cabins, and two crew forward.  Yaretti was founded in 1987 by Austrian Walter Sigl with boats sub contracted and build by Horizon in Taiwan.  For example the Yaretti 2110 was based around the Horizon 58 Pantera launched in 1990, extended in length for the extra cabin and some styling differences.  Yaretti stopped production in around the end nineties to restart in 2003 and then stop again in around the 2008 financial crisis.  In its second life Yaretti also sold two 2520, 25 meters super yachts.