Family rescued after spending five hours trapped on a megayacht off Motril's Carchuna beach

A family travelling on their megayacht from Marbella to Aguadulce in Almeria province had to be rescued off Carchuna beach in Motril on Tuesday morning when the vessel became stranded due to a technical fault.

A French man and his Ukrainian wife, the woman's brother and their two dogs were helped by Motril's fire brigade and the Red Cross after an apparent fault in the engine room caused the megayacht to stop responding to the captain's orders.

Emergency services were alerted at 1.30pm after the boat lost course and became stranded off Carchuna-Calahonda beach. The Guardia Civil, National Police, coast guard, Red Cross and Motril fire brigade were all involved in the rescue.

Strong winds and high waves made rescue work difficult and it took three hours for them to rescue the family. Ricardo, an employee at Marina Motril, a company that manages the marina, speaks perfect French so was able to communicate with the family and talk them through the rescue.

Dozens of onlookers watched from the beach and applause broke out when the last of the rescuers stepped onto solid ground with the last passenger. "It is the first rescue of this kind that I have participated in and I am proud that it has concluded successfully." said fire officer Emilio López.

On the beach the Red Cross took care of the family. The health services gave them a check-up and an antigen test, while the owners of the megayacht worked out what to do with the boat. They spent the night in a hotel in Motril and the boat was guarded overnight to prevent theft and incidents.

On Wednesday, technicians from Marina Motril were due to inspect the vessel and, if possible, take it by sea to Motril port for repairs and later return it to the owners. However, according to sources, in the worst case scenario the yacht could be deemed irreparable.

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