Deputy Maritime Minister Sinisa Orlic visited on Tuesday the Raska Bay in Istria, where an incident occurred on Friday, when some 4 tonnes of fuel leaked from the cargo ship Fidelity into the bay.

“I regret that this incident happened. These types of incidents are uncommon, but, considering that some 70 million tonnes of dangerous cargo pass through our seas every year, some 10 percent of which ends up in our ports, we are aware that this scenario was possible,” Orlic said.

The reaction was timely, and the situation has much improved over the last four days, the said.

He did not want to estimate the extent of the damage caused, but he said that the ministry would insist that the ship-owner pays the damages, adding that it would be an example to everyone on how they should behave in Croatia and its ports.

The investigation on the incident, conducted by the State Attorney’s office, is still ongoing.

The Maritime Ministry confirmed this weekend the media allegations that the incident happened during the refuelling of the cargo ship Fidelty, sailing under the Lebanese flag. The Fidelity is being held in the Brsica harbour while the incident is under investigation.

“We can say with certainty that this was a human error, and the charges will include the ship’s crew,” Orlic said.

He added that the clean-up operation should last about 10 more days.

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