Video: New 78-foot Yacht Sinks Moments After Launch
The launch of a new yacht should be exciting, but maybe not like this: on the afternoon of September 2nd, on Turkey's Black Sea coast, the newly completed 78-foot (23.9-meter) motor yacht Dolce Vento capsized and sank off the port of Karadeniz Ereğli.
According to local news sources, the yacht encountered a severe stability issue shortly after touching water (in the video, you can see it listing to its port side within seconds). After 15 minutes, Dolce Vento was fully submerged, descending to a depth of approximately seven meters.
Emergency services, including the Turkish Coast Guard and medical personnel, responded swiftly. The yacht’s owner, captain, and two crew members were onboard at the time; luckily, all four individuals leapt into the water and escaped without injury.
Authorities have since launched a formal investigation into the cause of the sinking, with particular attention likely to be on potential design or ballasting issues during the vessel’s launch sequence.
Local reports vary as to the time spent building (from five months to 2.5 years), but regardless, this marks a significant setback for Turkey's Feyz Group and Med Yılmaz Shipyard. Curiously, at the time of writing, Feyz Group only advertises their commercial cargo management services, and Med Yılmaz Shipyard, despite having a segment on their website for "ship & yacht projects," highlights only their commercial shipping and trawler vessels. It's unclear whether Dolce Vento was the two groups' first attempt at entering the custom motor yacht market.
