Melbourne, Wednesday -- At half past four this afternoon, a luxury 80ft motoryacht, believed to be asian built, burst into flames at the Yarra's Edge Marina in Melbourne's Docklands precinct.
The flames and huge plume of toxic smoke were fortunately blown away from other vessels at the marina by a stiff south-westerly breeze.
It is believed that four crew aboard the doomed boat disembarked before the fire and subsequent explosions took hold.
Eyewitnesses said several explosions rock the multi-million dollar vessel which is now a complete write-off.
Firefighters found it difficult to get to the area which is close to the CBD and very congested at the time of the fire. It also brought into question whether the Port of Melbourne is sufficiently equipped to handle a serious on-water fire incident.
Gary Freeman of Pleasure Cruising who was on the scene within minutes told BoatPoint and Boatsales: "It's a scene of utter chaos. There's a police boat on the scene with a garden hose trying to put out a major blaze and two guys in a dinghy with similar hose. They're getting nowhere"
Mr Freeman, who was on board one of his company's boats and rushed to the scene, said the vessels had to back off for fear of further explosions.
At 18.00hrs a spokesman for the fire brigade said that the fire was: "under control but still burning".