Kraljevica: Fire Destroys Seven Boats, Three Sink
A fire that broke out Thursday afternoon at the marina in Scott Cove near Kraljevica destroyed seven boats, three of which sank. No one was hurt, and the polluted sea was contained with booms.
The Rijeka Port Authority reported that a fire was called in on Thursday, September 10, at 1:16 p.m., through the County 112 Notification Center in Rijeka, involving boats moored in Scott Cove near Kraljevica. The site sits in the northern Adriatic, roughly halfway between Rijeka and the island of Krk, an area where large numbers of vessels stay moored throughout the summer season, and the Kvarner region is also one of the destinations Serbian tourists regularly visit each summer. The fire broke out right at the tail end of the summer boating season, when the moorings along this stretch of coast are still full of boats belonging to owners who keep them there year round. Seven boats were damaged by the fire, and three of them sank completely.
The County Notification Center passed the report straight on to the Rijeka Port Authority, which set coordinated response efforts in motion among the relevant services. The National Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Center in Rijeka, known by its acronym MRCC Rijeka, informed the Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure about the incident. By the time the report came in, members of the Rijeka Public Fire Brigade were already working the scene, while the Kraljevica Public Fire Brigade took over the overnight watch at the site once the fire was out.
According to the Port Authority’s report, the fire started on one boat and spread within a short time to neighboring vessels moored in the same cove. At one point during the response, an explosion was heard, believed to have come from a gas canister on one of the burning boats. Officially, there is still no final word on what caused the fire, and further investigation is being carried out by the Rijeka Port Authority together with the Bakar branch office of the Port Authority and the police.
The Rijeka Port Authority also brought in the tugboat Titan from the port of Omisalj, owned by the Adriatic Maritime Service, which stood by on standby for the entire operation. Firefighters managed to stop the fire from spreading to the other boats moored nearby, after which it was brought under control and fully extinguished. There were no deaths or injuries, the Rijeka Port Authority confirmed following a preliminary inspection of the scene.
Putting out the fire left its mark on the sea around the site as well. The surface of the water was contaminated with floating lubricant residue from the damaged boats, so it was enclosed with absorbent booms to stop the pollution from spreading further. “The sea surface, contaminated with floating lubricant residue from the damaged boats, has been enclosed with absorbent booms,” the Rijeka Port Authority stated in its report on the response. A specialized company that handles commercial removal of pollution from the sea and marine environment was brought in to clean up and remove the contamination.
Overnight, after the fire, members of the Kraljevica Public Fire Brigade stayed at the Scott Cove site and took over watch duty, while Rijeka Port Authority officials continued securing the location until morning, working alongside the crew handling the pollution cleanup. The first reports from Croatian media on Thursday afternoon spoke of five boats affected, but once the preliminary inspection was complete, the official count was corrected to seven burned vessels, three of which had sunk entirely.
Administrative matters tied to the damage on the burned and damaged boats, along with the ongoing effort to pin down the exact cause of the fire, remain in the hands of the Rijeka Port Authority. Boat owners currently have no official damage assessment, and the Port Authority has not yet said when the investigation might wrap up. Until then, according to the authorities, the absorbent booms remain in place at the site, and the state of the sea pollution in Scott Cove continues to be monitored.
