A BOAT caught fire and was completely destroyed in the early hours of today near the Dragons Health Club in St Peter Street at Maidstone.

The open-top pleasure boat, which was empty at the time, was moored on the river Medway.

It is thought fire broke out when petrol lime leaked onto the boat’s outboard motor.

Two crews from Maidstone fire station attended the incident at around 1am. Firefighter Neil Dickson said: “It was moored up close to other boats, so there could have been a risk of fire spreading to them.”

The blaze was out by 2am. No-one was injured.