A floating drama near the Alaskan capital has turned into a public relations storm for Mark Zuckerberg. According to The Guardian, the billionaire’s superyacht Silicon Valley repeatedly refused to help a boat that had run out of fuel, even though it was the closest vessel in the area.
The incident happened last week in southeastern Alaska. A motorboat ran out of gas near Juneau and began drifting. The Coast Guard was informed around 21:30 and determined that the boat’s crew was not in danger, but still sent out a request for assistance.
That request was answered by a cruise ship run by UnCruise Adventures, which towed the motorboat to Farragut Bay.
A rescue and a booing crowd
A passenger on the cruise ship later recounted the rescue on Bluesky. The post said the ship got involved after the Coast Guard reached out, and noted that Zuckerberg’s yacht had ignored the call despite being closer.
– At night our ship rescued a drifting boat. We did this after Coast Guard contacted us. Apparently Zuckerberg’s yacht, which was closer, repeatedly refused to respond – wrote one of the passengers on Bluesky.
According to the same passenger, when people on board learned whose yacht had ignored the earlier request for help, there was almost unanimous booing.
Zuckerberg’s team responds
The online reaction was immediate. A Reddit user from Juneau did not hide anger at the sight of the yacht anchored in Auke Bay.
– I live in Juneau and have had to look at this horrible sight anchored in Auke Bay. F*** Zuckerberg – wrote one Reddit user.
Another person on X offered sarcastic praise, saying that Zuckerberg was a true 'man of the people’ and that rich people probably do not care about anyone else.
– Bravo, Zuck, true 'man of the people’. Maybe it’s true that rich people don’t care about us – wrote another user on X.
Zuckerberg’s spokesman Brian Baker rejected the accusations. Baker told Forbes that the crew was listening to a different radio channel and only checked the channel used by the motorboat after the rescue operation had already begun.
– We are glad everyone is safe – stressed Brian Baker.
The superyacht Silicon Valley is estimated to be worth about $300 million. Zuckerberg was not on board during the incident.
Źródło: Polsat News, Fot. Polsat News
