Crew, passengers, rescued from burning yacht

A rented yacht recently-arrived from Italy caught fire spectacularly off the Nice-Côte d’Azur airport on Thursday, August 17.

At about 2 pm in the afternoon the crew of “If Only”, a 39-metre yacht with a steel hull and aluminium superstructure, alerted the French authorities. Maritime police boats from Nice, Cagnes-sur-Mer and Antibes attended the incident.

A total of 15 people on board the boat were rescued, including four crew. During the fire, a large plume of smoke was visible from the beaches and from aircraft taking off from and landing at Nice Airport. The yacht was within five miles of the coast when the fire broke out. The cause to the blaze is under investigation.

Built by Dutch-based Feadship in 1974 as Wallanka, the yacht was later renamed to If Only.


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