Stunning Footage Shows Wreckage of Superyacht That Burned and Sank in Sea

A fishing enthusiast stumbled upon a shipwreck just off the coast of Langkawi, Malaysia, and shared the stunning footage of his find online.

The video taken by André Frisk shows the wreck of a 246-foot sailing yacht called The Phocea (previously The Enigma) which sank off the coast of Langkawi in February 2021 after catching fire.

According to the Royal Malaysian Navy's Ocean Mapper, the yacht now lies on the seabed at a depth of 39 feet, with the three main masts still visible. No one was said to have been hurt in the fire and the seven crew members on board were rescued by the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency.

"Approaching the wreck I felt excited because fishes love wrecks," Frisk told Newsweek. "At the same time, I couldn't stop thinking about what happened, and what was down there."

The footage shows Frisk's boat approaching the wreck, with the three main masts and ripped sails sticking up above the water.

When a man-made object like this sinks to the sea floor, nature quickly takes over.

"Shipwrecks can provide incredible habitats in marine ecosystems," Avery Paxton, a Research Marine Biologist at the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, told Newsweek.

"A lot of the work that we've been doing off the coast of the United States has shown that they can provide habitat for a diversity of marine life, ranging from small bait fish all the way up to large predators."

UNESCO has estimated that there are over three million shipwrecks around the world, each of which has the potential to become an artificial reef. Some research has suggested that, in the United States, these artificial structures may support more fish than natural reefs, particularly for larger predators.

"We've seen that when structures like ships are intentionally sunk, those ships can have fish on them that same day," Paxton said. "Several months after, we usually start to see some of the more bottom-associated species that are tied more closely to that structure."

The exact community structure that forms will depend on the location.

There are of course some risks associated with these man-made structures. Toxic paints, rusting iron, and asbestos are just some of the hazards that can seep out of sunken ships and pollute the surrounding water. The extent to which this occurs will vary between different structures.

"It's important to understand that shipwrecks are really special places in our ocean," Paxton said. "They're not only cultural resources, but they also form habitats for a diversity of plants and animals...It's almost like they're having a second life underwater."