Dramatic escape of Belgian woman from flaming yacht in Athens

The Belgian national was alerted to the fire by the captain of another boat docked at the marina as the flames spread to the cabin she was resting in.

The girl woke up in panic from the screaming, then opened her cabin door and found herself surrounded by smoke and flames.

She reacted quickly and crawled through the glass porthole on the roof of the cabin and jumped into the cold sea almost half-naked  swimming about 50 metres until she reached land. She then went to the Coast Guard office in shock and informed reported her ordeal.

At least five more girls were on two yachts docked at the Glyfada marina that went up in flames overnight. All are safe. An investigation is underway to determine the cause of the fire which remains unknown.

Following her deposition to the port authorities, the the yacht was flying a Greek flag and the 22-year-old said she was having a mini-cruise on the Saronic islands yesterday with the shipowner and the captain. She had travelled by air from Sofia to Greece on Wednesday alone and, after landing at Eleftherios Venizelos, headed to the Glyfada marina to spend the night on the yacht.

A total of five yachts sustained damage from the fire, two of which were totally destroyed.