A 43-year-old Italian was arrested two days ago for having allegedly caused a wildfire on the islet of S’Espalmador (Balearic Islands).

The action was not deliberate and was the result of setting off a distress flare from a 23-metre yacht, landing on the tiny island and burning a hectare of Juniper thickets.

The man, who was a passenger on the yacht, claimed before the judge on Tuesday the 16th that the flare had gone off by accident.

The skipper, who will be called to give evidence before the judge at a later date, also claimed that it was an accident, as it had occurred whilst he was giving a safety course on board.

The Guardia Civil, however, fruit of their investigations, doubt that this was the case because such a safety course would be carried out on the first day of a trip, not the second whilst the yacht was anchored just off the isle.

Furthermore, when the flare went off, there were only two of the eight passengers on board, one of whom was the suspect. They also doubt that during such a course the skipper would place a loaded flare gun in the hands of somebody receiving the course.

Members of the crew claim that when they saw where it had landed and that a fire had broken out, they had dived overboard to swim ashore and fight the fire.

The local fire service had received a call at 22.50h on Saturday the 14th and were deployed on the ground in action by 23.40h. The fire was stabilized by 02.25h and declared under control at 07.45h.

The owner of the islet had long feared that a fire could break out and had already put it up for sale at 24m euros as he was “unable to control the arrival of hundreds of tourists every day during the high season.”

The Balearic Island Government says that it has been trying for years to receive aid from the Central Government to control the area, which is a Natural Park that includes the Islote s’Espalmador, precisely because of the masses of tourists arriving each year.