The Marine Salvage of a sailing yacht wreck in Zea Marina in Piraeus proved to be a complex and demanding underwater operation, requiring specialized equipment, experienced professional divers, and detailed planning to ensure the safe recovery of the vessel to the surface.
The wreck salvage operation became necessary following a serious incident that occurred in the early hours of November 13, 2025, at Zea Marina in Piraeus, when a fire broke out under unclear circumstances on a sailing yacht moored in the area, ultimately leading to its sinking and the urgent need for its recovery.
The incident
In the early morning hours of November 13, 2025, under unclear circumstances, a fire broke out on a vessel at Zea Marina in Piraeus. According to local reports, it started on a sailing yacht that was docked there.
The fire quickly spread to nearby anchored vessels, and despite the efforts of the fire department, four boats, including the sailing yacht, were burned and sank within the harbor.
In the days that followed, the yacht’s owner contacted NSD | Nick Segredakis Diving ltd, requesting assistance with an underwater inspection of the site where the incident occurred.
Immediately, initial preliminary dives were conducted to assess the condition of the sunken vessel. The result revealed that the sailing yacht was completely burned down to its waterline, with its hull sunk in the mud, covered in debris, wire ropes, chains, ropes, masts, and various other destroyed materials.
Subsequently, after some time, once the decision was made to raise the sailing yacht and the other burned and sunken vessels, the shipowner instructed NSD | Nick Segredakis Diving ltd to undertake all necessary underwater work to bring the vessel to the surface and remove it.
The Challenges we faced in the Marine Salvage
The Challenges that needed to be addressed in the Marine Salvage were:
- The depth at which the vessel lay (12 meters).
- The occasionally poor water visibility.
- Burnt debris from the wreck and the other vessels that had burned was on top of it.
- The vessel was sunk in the mud, making it difficult to place slings underneath it.
- Being made of wood, after the fire it was fragile, and there was no easy way to secure it safely.
- Its entire interior had been burned out, leaving the hull with almost no structural joints. This made raising it in one piece, without it breaking, extremely difficult.
The Operation of Marine Salvage
The main lifting operation lasted three days.
- On the first day of the Marine Salvage, NSD | Nick Segredakis Diving ltd divers conducted preparatory dives, primarily aimed at removing almost all the objects (see: wire ropes, chains, ropes, masts, anchor, etc.) that covered the vessel and would have added weight to the hull during the lift.
- On the second day of the Marine Salvage, through a series of dives, NSD | Nick Segredakis Diving ltd divers passed lifting slings under the sunken vessel, after first raising it slightly with the help of lift bags.
- On the third day of the Marine Salvage, a crane arrived at the marina quay. The slings that had been placed under the vessel the previous day were attached to it, and the vessel was lifted and placed onto a barge that had moored in front of the quay.
In addition to NSD | Nick Segredakis Diving ltd’s dive vessel “Elpida,” eight specialized divers and company associates took part in the operation.
The operation to raise the sailing yacht lasted a total of 6 days, and despite all the adversities faced by the NSD | Nick Segredakis Diving ltd team, it was successfully completed, adding another achievement to our company’s long list.
The successful completion of this operation once again confirms the expertise and operational readiness of NSD | Nick Segredakis Diving Ltd, which has been exclusively active in the field of underwater services since 1991. The company provides comprehensive underwater solutions for ships and floating structures at all ports throughout Greece and internationally, covering services ranging from underwater inspections, hull cleaning, and propeller polishing to anode replacements, sonar transducer replacements, rudder and propeller repairs, steel plate replacements, and blanking of sea inlets and outlets.
The company is approved by all major International Classification Societies and is the first company in Greece to have an approved method for permanent underwater welding by Bureau Veritas, certifying the high level of technical expertise of its diver-welders. With rapid response capability to emergency situations and its fully equipped 22-meter diving support vessel “ELPIDA,” NSD | Nick Segredakis Diving Ltd delivers reliable, safe, and certified solutions for every type of underwater operation.