It will be almost one month since a luxury yacht ran aground on the barrier reef just outside of San Pedro Ambergris Caye and according to the San Pedro Sun Newspaper the estimated cost of damage is at seven hundred and eighty seven thousand U.S. dollars. The fine is the responsibility of the yacht’s owner Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego who according to the article has agreed to pay.
Pliego’s boat reportedly left the country on Holy Thursday and the following day the Azteca reportedly anchored in Cozumel. That suggests that a payment was made but despite numerous attempts, we couldn’t get any confirmation from the Department of the Environment.
The boat’s captain Salvador Villeras Eckart told police that the vessel was drifting towards the reef after a rope became entangled in one of the boat’s propeller and in an attempt to stop the vessel from running aground on the reef, he lowered the anchor. The boat’s owner, Ricardo Salinas Pliego is the owner of the Mexican television network, YV Azteca.
