Recent disclosures have revealed that a British citizen was among the guests aboard a superyacht suspected of igniting wildfires in Greece with a fireworks display.
According to reports, the Brit, along with a dozen other foreign nationals, claimed they were engrossed in watching a Euro 2024 football match on the yacht while its crew launched fireworks over the Greek island of Hydra last Friday. This display allegedly sparked a massive brush fire that destroyed more than 70 acres of the island’s pristine pine forest, the only one of its kind on Hydra.
The revelation surfaces just a day before the yacht’s 13-member crew, all Greek nationals, are scheduled to testify before an investigating magistrate on charges related to arson. If found culpable, each crew member, comprising nine men and four women, could face sentences of up to 20 years in prison and fines reaching €200,000.
Details about the crew have been withheld, but local media have identified Daniyar Abulgazin, one of Kazakhstan’s wealthiest individuals, as a guest on the 176-foot yacht named Persefoni I. The manifest, obtained by the Daily Mail, lists Abulgazin along with six other Kazakh nationals, the British citizen, and two Polish nationals.
Authorities questioned the guests, including Abulgazin’s son and wife, Aidan Suleimenova, who heads a major charity in Kazakhstan, but all were promptly released, denying any involvement in the fire. They asserted that they were watching a Euro 2024 football match during the incident, though the specific game was not specified. On the evening in question, three matches were scheduled: Poland vs Austria, Netherlands vs France, and Slovakia vs Ukraine.
Flight records indicate that all passengers have since departed Greece, with Abulgazin reportedly using a private jet bound for Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city. It remains unclear whether the unnamed British national departed with him.
Earlier, authorities arrested 13 crew members and passengers from the yacht, some of whom shielded their faces as they appeared in a Piraeus courtroom in Athens. Prosecutors have requested the temporary seizure of the yacht as they gather witness statements, including reports from nearby vessels and a captain who observed the fireworks from close proximity.
Vasilis Kikilias, Greece’s Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, condemned the incident, stating that extinguishing the resulting blaze required significant resources, including six airplanes and two firefighting teams diverted from other emergency responses. He estimated that approximately 1,200 hectares (3,000 acres) of forest were lost to the fire.
Following the incident, Hydra’s mayor, Giorgos Koukoudakis, expressed outrage and vowed legal action against those responsible. He also urged authorities to establish additional fire-prevention measures, including firebreaks and access roads within forested areas.
Source Daily Mail