A fire that broke out at Italian superyacht builder Baglietto's yard in La Spezia on Saturday evening has destroyed a 53m (174ft) motoryacht, which was near completion.

Fire crews from three towns were called to attend the blaze, which completely consumed the shed housing the superyacht.

No one was hurt during the incident, although 14 painters were working on the yacht when the fire broke out. The cause of the blaze is not yet known.

Baglietto has released a statement saying that the fire did not spread beyond the shed containing hull number C.10202, no other yacht was damaged and building continues as normal.

The yacht was worth around €30m according to local news sources. She was the third 53m (174ft) Baglietto and was due to be launched at the end of next week for an owner from outside Europe.

Baglietto is based near Genoa in northwest Italy and builds custom fast and displacement superyachts over 30m (98ft).
SuperYachtWorld, 3 February 2009