On the morning of September 7, the newly-built superyacht Kanga caught fire 15 nm off the popular cruise port of Dubrovnik, Croatia. The vessel’s superstructure was destroyed in the blaze, but all 13 passengers and crew escaped safely. Two explosions occurred during firefighting efforts, slightly injuring three responders, according to local outlet Slobodna Dalmacija.
The captain of the port for Dubrovnik and Croatia’s MRCC Rijeka coordinated the response to the incident. Firefighters from the Public Fire Department of the Dubrovnik Coast applied foam to the vessel’s superstructure and sprayed it through portholes into interior compartments to suppress the blaze.
The yacht is believed to have 40 tonnes of diesel fuel in her tanks, and responders deployed containment booms to reduce the risk of marine pollution. Once the blaze was brought under control, the Kanga was towed from the accident site near the Pelješac peninsula to a pier at Prapratno. She is believed to be a total loss.
The Kanga was delivered earlier this year from Italian shipyard CCN, according to SuperYacht Times. She was a 490 GT, 133-foot vessel built with a steel hull and an aluminum superstructure. CCN told yachting media that it is providing support to the investigation into the cause of the blaze.
