Four tourist boats engulfed in flames

ANTALYA

While Turkey’s Mediterranean resorts have just emerged out of a massive wildfire disaster, four tourist sailing boats in Antalya’s Alanya district caught fire, in which two of them burned to death.

A fire broke out late Aug. 15. on a boat named Mozi 07 that was anchored in an Alanya fisherman’s shelter, spreading to three neighboring vessels.

Firefighters from the Antalya Metropolitan Municipality and Turkish Coast Guard units responded to the blazes, whose causes have still not been determined.

There were no reports of victims as passengers rushed to jump into the water, but one sailor was reported to have been hospitalized after being affected by smoke during firefighting.

Eyewitnesses on social media have posted videos depicting the ships shrouded in fire and smoke.

There was a brief panic on the shore when one of the boats, which resembled the fictional ship in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series, the Black Pearl, was engulfed in flames from head to toe.

Four ships were damaged, with two burning to the waterline as they were made of wood.

While judicial authorities have launched an investigation into the incident, law enforcement forces are investigating what caused the fire.