Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia — A multi-million-dollar sailing yacht that once belonged to French tycoon Bernard Tapie went up in flames off Malaysia Thursday, with firefighters battling for hours to put out the blaze.
Coastguards said they were alerted to the fire on the 75-meter (246-foot) Phocea just after 8:00 a.m. (0000 GMT) when it was off the resort island of Langkawi.
Seven crew members were rescued from the vessel without suffering injuries, said coastguard official Mohamad Zawawi Abdullah, but firefighters were still battling to extinguish the blaze in the evening.
The four-masted yacht was built for renowned French sailor Alain Colas in 1976 and was owned by Tapie in th…
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