$1 Million Yacht Sinks in Mallorca as Rescuers Look On

On Saturday morning, five people, including a German couple with their young son, were rescued from a sinking yacht near Camp de Mar in Mallorca, Spain. According to initial reports, they'd just boarded the vessel in Port Adriano a short while before and were probably heading out on what should have been a memorable summer vacation.

It'll still be memorable, but for other reasons. By the time the Maritime Safety Agency vessel arrived at the scene, the five passengers had been rescued by a passing boat. The yacht had taken so much water that it was completely flooded, and rescuers instantly declared it beyond saving at that point.

Video and photos posted to social media by the Agency show the vessel with its stern over waterline and high up in the air, while the bow is completely submerged. The report doesn't mention a probable cause for the incident, nor does it say anything else about the fate of the yacht once they took the emergency call and determined there was "no possibility" of refloating it.

A report in the German media, though, hints that the vessel sunk shortly after. It also mentions an estimated value for the yacht of about $1 million, and notes that the owner is responsible for its recovery and the cleanup operation, should contamination become an issue. That's what they mean when they say misfortunes always come in pairs.

The only silver lining here is that no one was injured.

While this isn't the biggest and most dramatic incident of the kind in recent weeks, it's definitely a vacation-killer, especially if the vessel went down to the bottom of the sea. It might not be a total loss even if did, but it won't "buff out."

A similar incident last month involved a $17.5 million superyacht that started taking on water when crew members apparently forgot the door to the tender garage open, and it was flooded. The entire party of guests and crew were rescued in time, and there were no injuries reported.

This happened in Greece, and bad weather may have played a part. Ethos, a 47-meter (154-foot) superyacht by Admiral Yachts, part of the Maxima 47 line, became partly flooded as water rushed into the tender garage, and the crew could no longer get to the door to close it. To keep it from sinking, the captain ran it aground after rescuers tried and failed to close the door.

Whoever said life is stranger and more dramatic than any piece of Hollywood fiction sure was a wise man.