Thursday evening, in Venice, around 8 pm, messages on social media doubled, spreading a justified fear: “Big fire in Murano” and worried comments began to multiply: “Let’s hope there are no victims”. Fortunately, no, there were none. And no injuries either.
Two house boats caught fire, as confirmed by the firefighters who immediately rushed to the scene (these are boats-yachts for tourist use as they allow you to stay like in an apartment, ed.) which were completely engulfed in flames in Murano, as can be seen from the photos.
No one was injured because the group of Austrian tourists on holiday, who were on board yesterday afternoon, had disembarked and were out for dinner. The fire broke out in Murano, Serenella area, inside a shipyard where the two boats were moored.
The firefighters arrived from the Venice station with two lagoon fire engines and a reinforcement team from Mestre, assisted by the officer on duty, and immediately began operations to extinguish the two boats completely engulfed in flames.
The tall column of black smoke in the early stages of the fire was visible from across Venice and beyond. Local police personnel, the port master’s office and Suem 118 personnel arrived on site for precautionary purposes.
The boats that burned were two “ten metres”, capable of accommodating up to eight people, one powered by electricity and one by diesel. The causes of the fire are being investigated by firefighters. The operations continued until late evening.
Investigations are underway to trace the dynamics of the accident and the cause that may have triggered it.
According to the first reconstruction, it was the “electrically powered” boat that caught fire first, then the flames also spread to the adjacent one.
There were many calls to the emergency switchboards from worried citizens, as the thick column of black smoke could be seen from far away. Some calls even came from Mestre.
As a precaution, navigation around Sacca Serenella and Actv line 4 was banned and many Murano residents hermetically locked themselves in their homes, as the acrid smell soon spread across the island.
In recent times there have been many boats that offer an “alternative stay” in Venice, allowing them to be rented for overnight stays in a “nautical” environment. Furthermore, their operation very often does not require any type of special license.
