According to witnesses, an explosion occurred on one of the boats at 3.55 a.m., whereupon a fire broke out that quickly spread to neighbouring moorings. It apparently broke out on one of the jetties in the town harbour, which is located in the shallower part of the harbour bay and set fire to motorboats moored to it. Medulin is a popular destination at the southern tip of Istria not far from Cape Kamenjak.
No injuries in the fire in Medulin harbour
The fire brigade, which arrived quickly on the scene, began extinguishing the fire and brought some of the ships that were not yet on fire to safety by cutting the yachts loose and towing them away, according to Croatian news portals. Fortunately, there were no injuries or fatalities.
It is said that owners even jumped into the water and swam to their boats to save them from the flames. Not entirely harmless: videos online show explosions in the fire, presumably from the yachts' tanks or gas cylinders. A lot of fuel from the sunken boats is also said to have been floating in the harbour water. The fire was extinguished at around 7 a.m. and the clean-up work began.
Andreas Fritsch
Editor Travel
