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News

Video: Drone Captures $24 Million Yacht Going Up In Flames

By  Juliet Bennett Rylah
Published Jun 19, 2014 11:00 PM
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A drone captured the intense fire that destroyed a $24 million yacht in Chula Vista Thursday morning.

It is believed that a crew doing welding work started the blaze. The yacht's owner, Larry Jodsass, 79, told NBC 7 that he cried when he saw video online of his beloved boat being consumed by flames.

Jodsass worked as an electrical engineer and was the chairman of a semiconductor company. He currently lives in Minnesota, but dry docked "Polar Bear" in Chula Vista after taking it to Costa Rica over the winter. The boat took him five years to build and he'd been sailing it for the past three.

The blaze was difficult to fight; firefighters had to use high-powered rifles to shatter the windows to get water inside. The dock had to be evacuated, but no one was seriously injured. Two workers had minor smoke inhalation injuries.

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