Inferno yacht to be salvaged

PHUKET: The Head of the Harbour Master’s Office has told the Gazette that the wreck of the yacht Catalina, which burned and sank in Chalong Bay in March, will be salvaged. Khun Soontree Hirunwan said that following talks with a representative of the Catalina’s owners, a salvage company has been contracted to raise the wreck in the coming week. Following that, forensic experts will spend a week investigating the cause of the fire, in which four people died. Once the wreck has been salvaged, any fuel still on board can be pumped out of the vessel’s tanks so that it does not cause pollution. The Catalina was understood to be carrying 20 tonnes of diesel fuel when it went down.