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ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. (WNCN) — Authorities in Florida have now released details about what a million-dollar luxury sport yacht hit before dramatically sinking over Memorial Day weekend.

The flashy 80-foot Sunseeker Predator 80 motor yacht named Atlantis went under in minutes after hitting an object in the Atlantic Ocean late Saturday morning about three miles off St. Augustine, Florida, according to the U.S.



Coast Guard. Photos from St. John’s County Fire Rescue and the Coast Guard showed the luxury vessel low in the water and then the yacht sinking — finally with just the bow bobbing up in the dark blue water of the Atlantic.

Two people were quickly rescued from Atlantis after the collision was reported at 11:37 a.m. Initially, the Coast Guard said Atlantis “struck an object in the water” but St.

John’s County officials have now identified the object and released an image of what the Atlantis possibly hit on Saturday. The photo showed a large floating square chunk of rusted metal — a marker for the dangerous dredge pipe location. St.

John’s County crews said the yacht hit a “dredge pipe piling.” The rusting metal marker in the photo — complete with a light and “Danger – Submerged Pipeline” sign — appeared to have a tuft of white fiberglass wedged in a side rubber strip. A top edge of the metal marker had a large scrape on it and the sign was pushed down — as if a white fiberglass boat keel possibly hit it and ran over it.

New images of the sinki.

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