The insular director of the Administración General del Estado, Enrique Sánchez, yesterday defended the actions deployed after the fire of the yacht ‘Aria SF’, which started in the afternoon of August 11th in Cala Saona, and its subsequent transfer to Ibiza, where it ended up sinking on Sunday in front of Cap Martinet. Sánchez insisted that “the work carried out has been professional, diligent and fast”, considering the circumstances of the fire and the weather and navigation conditions to take at each moment, the “lesser of the bad possible decisions was taken, because any place would have been a bad place for the yacht to have sunk”.
The representative of the State in the Pitiusas appeared before the press after the criticisms made the day before by the City Council of Santa Eulària and the Consell de Ibiza, who lamented the lack of information, on the one hand, and demanded immediate action to prevent contamination of the sea and the coast. Without citing these two administrations, Sánchez pointed out that the intention of his appearance was to “clarify the confusion that is starting to circulate” after the sinking of the yacht. “Confusion leads to alarm,” he stated.
“It is possible that some burnt material will wash up, but very little, because the barrier has been deployed”
Apologies to neigbours and bathers after yacht sinking
Sánchez showed understanding of the anger from the neighbors and users of the beaches in the area of Jesús, but he pointed out that in these types of accidents remains always arrive to the coast and that, in this case, “they have been minimal”. “Right now there is no more debris reaching the coast. It is possible that some burnt material will wash up, but very little, because the barrier has been deployed, the cleaning vessels are there and the diesel oil leaks are being sealed”, he indicated.
In recent days, images sent by bathers showed that on the beaches closest to es Cap Martinet, such as s’Estanyol, Cala Roja or Cala Olivera, numerous pieces of material from the burned yacht had washed up. “I understand the frustration of the neighbors and users of the beaches that have been soiled by the minimal remains of the fire, but the truth is that, regardless of where it sunk, it would have caused the same situation,” justified the island director.
Action protocol
To explain the steps followed throughout this crisis, Sánchez reviewed the report on the fire of the yacht ‘Aria SF’ until its subsequent sinking in es Cap Martinet.
As explained in the report, “as it was found that part of the material of the superstructure was aluminum and in order to avoid the sinking of the boat and dangerous chemical reactions, it was decided to try to move the boat away from the coast near Cala Saona”. Due to the large number of boats concentrated on that beach, which could be affected by a deflagration caused by the fire, the yacht was pulled around Formentera by the Mola to avoid the points of greatest nautical activity.
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