Crew members of a superyacht have been accused of starting a devastating forest fire on the Greek island of Hydra after allegedly launching fireworks from their vessel last week to entertain their guests, according to reports.
The blaze erupted on Friday night and raged into the following day, with a Greek official saying scenic woodlands were destroyed in the inferno. The 13 crew and passengers of the vessel appeared in the criminal court in Piraeus on Sunday on charges related to the fire in the island’s only pine forest.
The Persefoni I, a lavish 176-foot vessel which charters for around $320,000 a week in the summer months, was chartered by 17 people from Kazakhstan, according to local reports. The nationalities of the crew members are not clear. If convicted, they could face large fines and prison sentences of up to 20 years, according to Greece’s Kathimerini newspaper.
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Vasilis Kikilias, Greece’s minister for climate crisis and civil protection, said a prosecutor had requested that “the vessel in question be seized” and provided details of the scale of the fire’s destruction, according to The Guardian. “Six airplanes and two teams of firefighters, who had to be absent from dealing with other fires and services, were required to put it out,” he said.
Hydra, one of Greece’s Saronic Islands located southwest of Athens, is a popular vacation destination for tourists. Earlier this month, Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos and his fiancée, Lauren Sánchez, were spotted on the island along with Bezos’ son Preston during their Greek vacation, according to MailOnline.
Giorgos Koukoudakis, Hydra’s mayor, said the town hall would seek compensation depending on the outcome of the prosecution.
“What was destroyed was absolutely beautiful pine forest and on the night in question, because of the winds, fireworks were banned,” he said, The Guardian reports. “To use them was utterly irresponsible.”
