Watch: Fire destroys billionaire’s luxury yacht in Sydney

Fire has destroyed a luxury yacht in Sydney’s Woolwich Dock.

The destroyed AUS$10 million luxury cruiser Andiamo is reportedly owned by Sandy Oatley, son of the late Australian wine pioneer Bob Oatley. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the billionaire Oatley family also owns Wild Oats XI, the nine-time line honours winner of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race.

“Initial firefighting efforts were to not only extinguish the fire, but stop it spreading to a number of high-value vessels that were moored alongside the motor yacht. A young dockworker on-site at the time moved those other vessels away from the fire,” says fire and rescue NSW superintendent Adam Dewberry. While crews managed to contain the blaze, the vessel was ruined and sunk into the harbour.

No one was on board when the fire broke out, and there were no reported injuries.

Dewberry says the yacht was filled with 4,000 litres of diesel, causing ongoing concern for fire crews.

“It took so long [to extinguish the fire] because it’s a large vessel, and we had no access onto the yacht itself, it just wasn’t safe to get on board.

“The fuel loading of these vessels is quite high – fibreglass, plastics, foams, polyurethanes, any number of things you would associate with any [vessel] of luxury that has accommodation facilities.”

Dewberry says it is too early to tell what caused the blaze, but it isn’t being treated as suspicious.

Curtain booms have been installed at the entry to the dock to contain debris from the destroyed vessel, and any contamination from firefighting foam used to extinguish the flames.

Yacht fires are not rare. Recently, seventeen people were rescued from the luxury yacht Irmao, as the 88-foot vessel was engulfed in flames (12 August 2023). The incident occurred off the beach of Es Cavall d’En Borràs in the Ses Salines Natural Park, Formentera.