Boat owner, Mervin Polley was alerted to the fire at about 3am. “I was woken up by the owner of a motorbike which was also destroyed and who also lives on the property. He heard a popping noise, and when I saw the flames I rushed down.”
Mervin quickly removed four 25 litre containers of fuel from the boat and attempted to contain the fire with a hosepipe, but to no avail. The boat, tractor, motorbike and a compressor were destroyed.
He had recently replaced two tyres on the tractor at a cost of R25,000 and had renewed safety equipment on the boat for an inspection.
Mervin believes the fire was caused deliberately as a 20-litre can of fuel which had been left standing near the boat is missing. “The can is nowhere to be found. There is a lot of activity at night, with people walking up and down the road.”
Mervin has been a fisherman for 40 years and took the boat out mostly on weekends.
