Yacht where Princess Diana enjoyed last holiday sinks to bottom of Mediterranean

03 August 2023 , 16:46

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The yacht has sunk in the Mediterranean (Image: Gendarmerie des Alpes-Maritimes)

The superyacht where Princess Diana and her boyfriend Dodi Al-Fayed spent their last ever summer holiday before their deaths has sunk in the Mediterranean.

Cujo, which once belonged to Mr Al-Fayed, was reportedly holed after hitting an object off Beaulieu-sur-Mer on the French Riviera on Saturday. Seven people who were on board were rescued uninjured after getting into an inflatable dinghy, but the yacht sank, ending up at a depth of at least 2,430 metres.

The yacht's latest owner was an Italian man with a home on the French Riviera who was driving it when the incident happened. According to French media reports, he tried to pump out the water but failed, and even after a tugboat was dispatched to the scene, Cujo could not be stopped from sinking.

Diana died on August 31, 1997 (UK Press via Getty Images)

Princess Diana and Dodi Al-Fayed walking on a pontoon in St Tropez in the French Riviera (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Emergency services were called at around 12.30pm and when a rescue boat arrived 45 minutes later, it found the yacht's bow partially submerged, with some cabins already flooded. One officer said: "The skipper of the Cujo issued a Mayday. His ship was sinking due to a leak.

"Rescue boats were sent from Antibes, and, after making sure everyone was safe, gendarmes detected a significant water leak at the level of the starboard front hull. Her owner had activated the pumps and kept the engines running, but this didn't stop the boat sinking."

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Cujo hit an unidentified object off Beaulieu-sur-Mer on Saturday (Gendarmerie des Alpes-Maritimes)

Cujo, an Indian word that means "Unstoppable Force", made headlines in 1997 when it was owned by Diana's boyfriend. He had spent around £1million refitting it and before the couple died in a car crash in Paris, they were pictured on the yacht in St Tropez. That same summer, Diana was also photographed on Sokar, which was then owned by Al-Fayed's father, Mohamed.

The yacht - previously called Jonikal - was built in Italy in 1972 for businessman John von Neumann, who had told Baglietto Shipyard that he wanted the world's fastest yacht. The makers fitted Cujo with two 18-cylinder engines which allowed it to have a top speed of 40 knots. The businessman kept it for a few years and then sold it to the son of arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi who then sold it to his cousin, Mr Al-Fayed.

When Mr Al-Fayed moored the yacht off St Tropez in the 1990s, he invited celebrities including Clint Eastwood and Bruce Willis on board. After Diana and her boyfriend died, the yacht fell into disrepair before being restored by a family member who spent £688,000 (€800,000), according to Nice Matin. In 2020, it was put up for auction and was bought by a wealthy Italian family for £164,000 (€190,720).

Diana on the yacht, which was previously called Jonikal (mirrorpix)

In recent years, Cujo was moored in the port of Beaulieu-sur-Mer. But a local person told Nice Matin that it "regularly encountered maintenance problems." According to French newspaper Le Figaro, Cujo contained 7,000 litres of petrol but authorities said they found "little pollution" nearby. The maritime prefecture said: "It's never good news for the environment, but the forecast is that the heat and the swells will allow the gasoline to evaporate and churn."

Chiara Fiorillo