British couple face £200k bill after merchant sailors accidentally set century-old boat ablaze

A British couple are facing a bill of up to £200,000, after partying sailors set their 100-year-old wooden boat on fire by landing flares on the deck.

Police in Spain arrested three Ukranian merchant sailors on New Year’s Day after the classic sailing vessel Maori caught fire on the Costa Blanca in Alicante.

The trio, who were reportedly working on a Portuguese-flagged vessel, had been ringing in the new year when the accident occurred in the early hours of 1 January 2024.

The owners, who are based in London, heard about the fire when they were on holiday in France and immediately drove down to Alicante Regatta Club after learning the news.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Marcos Cascales Dorta, one of the two lawyers acting for the pair, said: “They are obviously devastated. They’ve owned the vessel for 20 years and use it regularly.

British couple are hit with huge bill after their 100-year-old sailing boat is accidentally set on fire by merchant sailors mucking around with emergency flares in Alicante.https://t.co/u6Xuoy5g7o

— billyWales88 (@BillyWales88) January 4, 2024

“It’s a 65-foot wooden sailing boat and although they haven’t got an official valuation of the damage that’s been done and the money they’ll have to spend on repairs, the estimate they’ve been given is around the £200,000 mark.

“Because of Brexit and the problems they had continuing to insure the boat, it wasn’t fully insured, which means they’ll have to pay for the repairs and then reclaim the cost from those responsible for the damage.

“At the moment, two of the three merchant sailors are part of an ongoing criminal investigation, one who has confessed to taking the emergency flares off the ship they were on and another who has admitted he lit them.

“But for the purposes of compensation, we are trying to get that investigation extended to include the captain of the merchant vessel who was responsible for the safekeeping of the emergency flares and the ship’s owner.”

Moises Candela Sabater, the couple’s other lawyer, says: “The owners were on holiday in Brittany when they found out about the fire and got in their car and drove to Alicante.

“The sailing boat is made out of teak, which is very expensive. The quick response from the firefighters meant the vessel wasn’t destroyed completely but there’s a lot of damage to the deck.

“The repairs will have to be carried out quickly so the ash doesn’t filter through to the inside of the boat if it rains.”

£200,000 goes up in flames! British couple are hit with huge bill after their 100-year-old sailing boat is accidentally set on fire by merchant sailors mucking around with emergency flares in Alicante https://t.co/ofNJFvMPGM pic.twitter.com/5tqJ1SPHat

— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) January 4, 2024

Police confirmed two unnamed Ukrainians, aged between 20 and 35, were arrested shortly after the fire was spotted. The pair had been carrying flares. Other flares were found discarded in a nearby bin.

A spokesman for Spain’s National Police told media: “Around 4am on January 1 officers on duty to prevent possible incidents in Alicante Port saw one of the yachts in the port had caught fire after being set alight accidentally by an emergency flare thrown seconds earlier.

“Three Ukrainian nationals aged between 20 and 35 were subsequently identified. Five identical emergency flares to the ones which caused the fire were found on them and in a nearby bin. They were arrested on suspicion of a crime of damages.”

Main image: Alicante Port.