Portals closed by luxury yacht fire

An electrical fault is suspected of having sparked a fire which caused serious damage to a luxury in Portals yesterday. There were brief moments of panic in Puerto Portals yesterday morning when a 23 metre luxury pleasure yacht called Galbi caught fire. The yacht was up on the hard at the time under going repairs and a refit when the blaze broke out in the bow of the yacht just after 9.30am. The English-speaking captain of the yacht was on board at the time and immediately called for assistance from the port offices to fight the fire and port staff acted rapidly using fire extinguishers while they waited for the fire service to arrive on the scene.One eyewitness said that the port was temporarily closed while the fire was dealt with by fire fighters from Calvia and Llucmajor.The Guardia Civil and a team of marine engineers also rushed to the scene and by 11am, the fire was extinguished, although the acrid smell of the fire lingered in the air throughout the day. Four people were overcome by the effects of smoke and required medical attention. Once the fire was declared out, the captain and crew continued working on the vessel in the rain, trying to clear away the damage caused by the fire to the interior of the yacht, in particular to the bow. Via its Facebook site, the administration of Puerto Portals thanked all of the people who were involved in fighting the fire and swiftly bringing the blaze under control and extinguishing the flames before further damage could have been caused.