OYSTER POND--A Beneteau 505 yacht belonging to the Moorings charter company broke free from its anchorage inside Oyster Pond sometime during Thursday night and drifted out of the channel, from where the wind pushed it onto the reef below the Oyster Bay Resort. It sank quickly.

There were no occupants on board at the time, but the four-year old $300,000 yacht, a popular vessel for charterers, was declared a total loss by Moorings.

According to Moorings' base manager Corrado Losi, the cause of the yacht breaking free and drifting away may have been due to a faulty shackle.

"This particular shackle was replaced in November, and we check them every six months. There's no special reason why the shackle would fail. It could have been faulty. Our divers check the moorings regularly and especially the mooring for this boat more often, because it was close to the entrance channel," said Losi.

St. Maarten Sea Rescue Foundation's Rescue 2 vessel's attempts to save the yacht from becoming embedded on the reef early Friday morning had been unsuccessful, Losi said.

Starting today, AMCON Lagoon Diving Services will now cut the vessel into pieces and removed it from the reef.

"For now, the yacht is contained and the fuel removed so there won't be any environmental impact, lubricants, or wreckage left behind. Then we'll go in there Saturday morning with our underwater chain saws and grinders and take it to pieces. It was never going to come off the reef in one piece; it turned out anyway," AMCON's John Gifford said Friday afternoon.

A salvage tug and support boats will be used for the operation which is expected to take divers, who will be equipped with underwater hydraulic tools, a few days to complete.