A group of 14 Lloyd’s insurers paid $20 million to the owner of Barbie, a 170-foot superyacht that was destroyed by fire in Turkey in January.
The yacht, which Al Jadaf built in 2006 at its Dubai shipyard in the United Arab Emirates, was destroyed Jan. 4 after a fire broke out on The One, a 233-foot superyacht that Lurssen built in 1973. Both were moored in Marmaris harbor. The fire quickly spread to the neighboring Barbie.
Despite firefighters’ efforts, both yachts were gutted, according to the Lloyd’s syndicate Hiscox. (Barbie was insured through Yachtsure24, a specialist insurance cover from Hiscox MGA.)
“Barbie is the largest claim that the superyacht insurance market has had to deal with in quite some time. That it was paid in full within 60 days of the event will hopefully help the owner to reach closure from this traumatic incident,” Hiscox MGA director of underwriting Paul Miller said in a statement.
Barbie was owned by Turkish businessman Unal Aysal, former president of the Galatasaray football club, according to the (U.K.) Daily Mail.
The One, formerly known as the Carinthia VI, was designed by Jon Bannenberg and was one of Lurssen’s first influential yachts. In a tweet, London-based yacht designers Bannenberg & Rowell said the yacht “will be missed.”
