YACHT owners have spoken of their anger after blue powder dye from a waste disposal site blew over a marina and stained their boats.The incident happened shortly after 10am yesterday at Haven Marina in Ipswich and affected about 20 boats.

YACHT owners have spoken of their anger after blue powder dye from a waste disposal site blew over a marina and stained their boats.

The incident happened shortly after 10am yesterday at Haven Marina in Ipswich and affected about 20 boats.

The Environment Agency said a bag containing clothing dye power had accidentally split at the nearby Anglia Environmental Waste Solutions site and had blown on to cars and boats.

Yacht owners said the dotted stains, which cover the length of their boats, would cost at least £2,000 to remove professionally and did not come off with soap and water.

June Spencer's catamaran recently underwent five weeks and several thousands pounds worth of repainting work and had been fitted with a new canopy, dingy and sails, which she said were now ruined.

"I came home and I cried. I've spent five weeks of solid graft for this," she said. She only went back into the water on August 14 having had all that done."

The powder dye is thought to have been carried over the marina by the wind and rain, which hit the region yesterday.

Vicky Dann, from Hollesley, near Woodbridge, who owns Amp, said the marina had contacted the boat owners to tell them what had happened.

"It was absolute hell. I could not believe it. It's going to have to be professionally cleaned. People here when it was wet managed to get some off but it's all dry now and it's sticking."

The EADT contacted Anglia Environmental Waste Solutions last night, but nobody from the company was available for comment.

Dave Knagg, Environment Agency team leader, said the agency received a call at 10.15am about blue dust on the cars and boats in the marina. Two of officers went to the site.

"Anglia Environmental Waste Solution gets its waste management license from the agency. We went down to the site and inspected boats and spoke to people in the marina," he said.

"It was evident from the inspection a blue powder had gone into the waste transfer agency. A bag, it appears, had split and allowed dust to escape. It was carried out of the site.

"We spoke to the employers at the waste transfer station to ascertain where the waste had come from looking at paperwork. We traced it back to a warehousing company in Felixstowe.

He added: "Having spoken to them we believe it's a clothes dye fine powder. There is an ongoing investigation to see how this occurred and to see if there has been any breaching of the licensing conditions."