A BRITISH couple are facing a £200,000 bill after partying sailors set their 100-year-old wooden boat ablaze when flares they let off landed on it.
Police arrested three merchantmen on New Year’s Day after sailing vessel Maori caught light on the Costa Blanca.
SolarpixA British couple are facing a £200,000 bill after partying sailors set their 100-year-old wooden boat ablaze[/caption]
SolarpixThe partying sailors let off flares that landed on the couple’s boat[/caption]
SolarpixThe owners, from London, drove to Alicante Regatta Club when they heard of the 4am blaze[/caption]
The trio had fired flares from the Portuguese-flagged merchant ship they worked on.
Its owners, from London, drove to Alicante Regatta Club when they heard of the 4am blaze.
Marcos Cascales Dorta, their lawyer, said: “They are devastated.
“They’ve owned the vessel for 20 years and often use it.
“Because of Brexit it wasn’t fully insured.
“So they’ll have to pay for the repairs and then reclaim the cost from those responsible.
“At the moment two of the three merchant sailors are part of an ongoing criminal investigation, one who has confessed to taking the emergency flares off the ship they were on and another who has admitted he lit them.
Police said those arrested were Ukrainian and aged from 20 to 35.
Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
