Luxury yacht Marinel-1, registered in Istanbul, caught fire on Thursday some 15 miles out to sea off Dalaman, Mugla, Turkey on 30 September 2010.

The captain and his two crew quickly sent out SOS messages and in a short time they were joined by Coast Guard boats from both Fethiye and Marmaris.

The three men on board were rescued and the fire eventually extinguished by personnel from the Coast Guard boats – who also filmed the entire operation.

The Marinel-1 was originally built in America and served in World War 2 from 1943.

After the war she continued as a US navy vessel until 1950 she was sold to the Turkish government and operated in the area of Haydarpasa Station, Istanbul as the towboat of the TCDD (Turkish State Railways) with the name of Pilot I.

At the end of its economical life she changed hands many times until 2008 when she was restored and owned by the Marinel Shipping Company, Istanbul, Turkey.

She was last available to charter for 20,000 Euro per week according to the Galeo Yachting & Travel company website based in Gocek.

On 23 March 2010 the boat was placed on Yachting and Boating World website for sale at a price of 2.9 million Euros.

The still smouldering shell of the Marinel-1 was towed into Fethiye harbour, Turkey on the morning of 01 October 2010 as pictured by our local news hound Stuart Aikman.

Fires destroyed two boats at the end of July in the area see our article here for more.