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Charred Yacht Hulls To Be Pulled From The Water

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FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) – Gloved workers spent Tuesday morning gathering debris from a Ft. Lauderdale marina's dock and the waters surrounding two multi-million dollar yachts that went up in flames over the weekend.

Monday crews worked to get fuel out of the water and also pumped more than 15,000 gallons of it from the vessels at Yacht Management Marina off State Road 84.

Cranes, to hull the charred yachts out of the water, are in place Tuesday, but pulling them out of the water has been put on hold until the water is deemed safe enough for divers to secure lines.

Once the yachts are on land, the Fire Marshal's Office investigators can work to determine what may have started the fire.

CLICK HERE to watch Joan Murray's report

A fire broke out in one of the yachts around 6:45 a.m. Sunday.

Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue crews worked quickly to keep it from spreading to other vessels docked at the marina.

"First thing they did, there were several other vessels tied to those boats. They broke those off so the fire didn't spread to those vessels," said Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue Deputy Fire Chief Timothy Heiser.

Even after fire crews drenched the boats with water, fire kept burning below deck.

Fire fighters pumped so much water onto the yachts one of them sank.

The fire department said one of the yachts is a 75-footer. The smaller one is between 50 and 60 feet long. A marina employee said the smaller boat was going to be sold soon.

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