Work is underway to contain and
recover oil from the River Medina after a luxury motor cruiser caught fire and sank in an Isle of Wight marina.

The 23-metre (75.46ft) motor yacht Kahu, estimated to be worth $5.6million, caught fire and subsequently
sank whilst moored at East Cowes Marina yesterday afternoon, 5 November.

The fire took hold onboard the Kahu just after 1pm and the
incident was attended by the fire, police and Cowes Harbour Commission
Services.

There were no casualties at all and nobody was onboard the Kahu at the time of the fire.

Teams
tackled the fire from onboard the yacht, from nearby pontoons, and with the
assistance of Cowes Harbour
Commission’s 16m Multi-Cat Seaclear.

Despite this, the Kahu sank at 10.45pm yesterday
evening, with approximately 8,000 litres of marine diesel fuel oil on board.

Cowes Harbour Commission (CHC) deployed oil spill prevention booms around the
vessel during the fire.

Harbour Master Captain Stuart
McIntosh immediately activated CHC’s Harbour Emergency Plan and Oil Spill
Response Plan in order to minimise the impact of any potential pollution
incident arising from the sunken vessel.

Capt McIntosh said: ‘Cowes Harbour Commission has a well planned and rehearsed response
for pollution incidents with back-up from specialist Oil Spill Response
contractor Adler and Allan.

‘The majority of the diesel fuel appears to be
contained within the vessel’s fuel tanks.

‘The team from Adler and Allen
mobilised their oil spill emergency response unit yesterday evening, which is
still on scene, and involved deploying further oil booms around the vessel to
minimise any potential pollution.

‘CHC
has a statutory obligation to have an effective Oil Spill Response Plan in
place, and our staff are trained to respond to just such an incident.

‘We
continuously review and update the plan, and hold regular exercises to test
effectiveness so that we are prepared for scenarios like the unfortunate
sinking of the Kahu.’

Adler
and Allan are still working with Cowes Harbour Commission to contain and
recover the oil from the incident on the River Medina.