Last week's environmental incident which left citizens of Slavonski Brod without drinking water was a failure of the environment protection ministry, city mayor told N1.

“We have secured drinking water for all citizens,” mayor of the eastern Croatian city, Mirko Duspara, told N1 on Tuesday, and added that the incident had happened on Wednesday (March 28), six days earlier.

The city’s main water source was contaminated on March 28 in an oil spill from a pipeline passing west of the city, leaving tens of thousands of people without any access to drinking water.

“After we had not received any report (about it) on Thursday, we launched a small investigation on our own on Friday, which concluded that the soil was soaked (with oil),” Duspara said, and added that the prime minister and the environment minister were both invited to visit the city.

According to media reports, the Crodux oil and gas company was performing a test on a pipeline at the time the oil spill occurred, although the company denies having anything to do with the contaminated water supplies.

“We also have (water) test results from March 6, and later dates. The water was perfectly healthy until this incident,” Duspara said, and added that on March 28, the day of the incident, “Crodux (themselves) had called the police and firefighters, as well as the company now working on clean-up.”