A wreath-laying ceremony was held outside the firefighting station in the coastal town of Sibenik to mark the start of events commemorating 12 volunteer firefighters from the towns of Sibenik, Vodice, and Tisno who were killed while trying to put out a wildfire on the island of Kornat in August 2007.

Later in the day some 300 firefighters from around the country are expected to gather for a commemoration at the site of the tragedy on Kornat, where 12 stone crosses were erected in memory of the deceased firefighters.

The firefighters lost their lives in a routine operation to put out a wildfire that erupted on that island, having been airlifted to the uninhabited island via helicopter. Six were killed on the scene of the fire, and another six later died from burns in hospital, in what is the largest peacetime disaster in modern Croatia.

Only a single firefighter, Frane Lucic, survived the incident.

Despite lengthy investigations, legal wrangling and several trials, the circumstances of the tragedy have not yet been entirely clarified. The victims’ families and part of the public do not believe the official report that the tragedy was caused by a sudden eruptive burst of fire, maintaining that the full truth about the circumstances has not been revealed.

Former Sibenik-Knin County fire commander Drazen Slavica, who was the only one to stand trial for the tragedy, was acquitted in the first trial in 2013. The Supreme Court later quashed the verdict and ordered a re-trial, but Slavica was again acquitted in late April this year.

The Sibenik County Prosecutor’s Office has appealed against that verdict and proposed that the Supreme Court quash it and order a new re-trial.

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