A local boatsman has been left to pick up the pieces after the vessel he called home was gutted by fire moments ago.
Captain Hugh told 284News that his vessel, Ocean Star 60, went up in a blaze which he believes could have been caused by an electrical malfunction onboard.
The captain spoke on the docks of Soper’s Hole, West End, as emergency response personnel and good samaritans did what they could to tame the blaze.
He escaped with nothing but the clothes on his back, and had little optimism that anything would be salvaged from the vessel – should it be saved before sinking.
“Everything is on the boat. I live on the boat so that’s it, it’s all gone”, he said.
The captain said that it took emergency personnel about 20 minutes to make it to the scene, however this long wait was in vain when they arrived without the necessary equipment to assist, and joined in with other onlookers watching the flames grow while they waited for the arrival of said equipment.
He said that thankfully, efforts to distance the vessel from the other boats on the dock were successful and as a result the fire was not able to spread beyond Ocean Star 60 – which at the time held an estimated 600 gallons of diesel onboard.
Fire service personnel are still on scene at the time of reporting.
More details as they become available.