The Blue Gold yacht that wrecked on Sunae shores at Moso island during Cyclone Pam in 2015 is worth VT5 million if removed. This was confirmed by the commissioner of the Vanuatu Maritime Safety 

Authority Affairs (VMSA), Less John Napuati following concerns about when the yacht will be removed. 

“It will be roughly over VT5 million to remove the yacht; It’s a major case for VMSA to deal with but while nearly the end of the year we have to wait for a budget to be able to do the work,’’ he said. 

“At the moment there is no funding to remove the ship but we hope next year if the government increased VMSA’s budget then there is a possibility we will remove the yacht from there. 

‘’There have been some allegations that there has been some poisoning with the village people but there is no evidence to prove it.’’ 

The Chairman of the Sunae Community, Abel Joel has raised his concerns about the yacht due to cyclone season approaching. 

“The work done to remove the yacht has caused some damage due to digging of reefs,’’ Mr Joel said. 

‘’Another thing is we are going towards cyclone season, the community is just concerned, what will happened if another cyclone came? Who will be responsible for other damage. It’s a nightmare here.’’ 

VBTC News understands under the agreement, the owner was paying a rental fee of VT60,000 every month. 

“It’s been five years since the owner stopped paying the rent,’’ Mr Joel said. 

“With the payment we have built a new community hall which is of great use to over 100 people in the community. 

“If we are not receiving any more money then what’s happening? We need to know.” 

Mr Napuati said there have been many attempts made to remove the yacht with the most recent one this year. 

“The chief has made an arrangement with the owner named Derick and he has engaged with Ocean Logistics with his own money to remove the yacht which was VT1 million but was unsuccessful,’’ Mr Napuati said. 

 “There has been a lot of work being done with the yacht checking to see if any damage to the environment because it’s a reserved area for fisheries. 

“It was a good high tide that Ocean Logistics decided to remove the yacht but no luck at all due to a rope broken,’’ Mr Napuati said.