Croatia on Friday commemorated the 17th anniversary of the death of 12 firefighters who lost their lives while battling a wildfire on the island of Kornat. This was the biggest firefighting tragedy in recent Croatian history.

Of the twelve firefighters who died on Veliki Kornat, six were killed at the scene of the tragedy, while the other six died shortly afterwards in hospitals from serious burn injuries.

The victims were Dino Klaric, Ivica Crvelin, Ivan Marinovic, Marko Stancic, Gabrijel Skocic, Hrvoje Strikoman, Tomislav Crvelin, Ante Crvelin, Josip Lucic, Karlo Severdija, Marinko Knezevic and Ante Juricev-Mikulin.

The only survivor of the tragedy on 30 August 2007 was Frane Lucic, who is still suffering from the serious consequences of his injuries.

On Thursday, the government decided that 30 August would be observed as a Day of Remembrance for the 12 firefighters who were killed.

Several theories about the cause of the accident

The former head of the public fire brigade unit in Sibenik, Drazen Slavica, was tried for the tragedy and acquitted twice.

In January 2021, the Croatian Supreme Court confirmed the acquittal of the Zagreb District Court in the case. It found that the court had rightly concluded that Slavica was not responsible for the acts or omissions of persons who should have acted in accordance with their legal powers and that he did not have the authority to direct the firefighting operation, which also involved aviation.

There were several theories about the cause of the accident on Kornat, such as a fuel leak from the helicopter and the explosion of remnants of NATO bombs. The results of the official investigation showed that it was an eruptive fire.

Several memorial events are planned for Friday to honour the victims of the Kornat tragedy.