The owner of Utopia IV, multimillionaire JR Ridinger, has given a statement about the incident on Christmas Eve, when his superyacht rear-ended and sank a tanker off New Provence Island in the Bahamas. In a statement with Californian online newspaper Page Six, Ridinger confirmed that neither he nor his wife Loren were onboard the yacht at the time of the incident. 
Photo: Team for DesignHe commented, "We are terribly saddened by the collision. The Utopia IV was on charter so we were not on board at the time and therefore cannot offer comment.” They added: “We are still waiting for answers ourselves and for the investigation as to both vessels’ actions leading up to the collision to be completed.”
Photo: instagram.com/salvage_and_wreck/The tanker, Tropic Breeze, was owned by Maritime Management and the company issued a statement to a local newspaper called Caribbean National Weekly stating, "The catastrophic force of the collision pierced the stern of the tanker causing the tanker to sink to the ocean floor at an estimated depth of 2,000 feet.” Neither of the crew were hurt during the event and were rescued shortly by a ship which answered the mayday call.
Photo: instagram.com/salvage_and_wreck/The damage to the superyacht, which is currently for sale at a price of $51,500,000, was minimal. The Ridingers added, "We are grateful that there were no serious injuries on either vessel and that the other vessel’s cargo was non-persistent materials — all of which are lighter than water and will evaporate if exposed to surface air as published in their press release."