Yacht caught fire and sunk on Saturday evening. | Majorca Daily Bulletin reporter

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The 88-foot luxury yacht which caught fire forcing guests and crew of leap overboard on Saturday evening off Formentera, Balearics, belongs to Spanish poker pro Diego Gomez Gonzalez nicknamed “The Lion”.

It has yet to be confirmed whether The Lion was on board at the time but the yacht has since sunk and a salvage operation is well underway off the island near Ibiza which is extremely popular with the world’s rich and famous.

The luxury vessel, named Irmao, caught fire with five crew and 12 passengers on board, before sinking in Formentera on Saturday.
One of the crew members on board, a 39-year-old Spaniard, required hospital treatment for the burns he had following the incident.

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The Spanish coastguard said in a short statement published alongside the footage of their vessel Acrux towing the yacht: “Yesterday a fire occurred on board Irmao off of Formentera.
“Private vessels rescued the 17 people on board.
“Our centre in the Mallorcan capital Palma mobilised Acrux which towed the yacht which was on fire, but it sank.”

Irmao costs £45,800 to charter in summer and £38,900 in low season.

Following the incident, Formentera Council officials said they would now be monitoring the situation over the next few days but have confirmed that so far no fuel contamination has been detected.