A Croatian diver with over 30 years of experience has described Thursday’s fatal car accident that killed four Maltese tourists as the most difficult intervention of his career.
Renato Huba was one of the first to arrive at the scene of the accident at the town of Bunica, near Senj and was part of the team to recover the car and remains.
He said that while he had similar interventions before, he described yesterday’s accident as “one of the most difficult”, he told Croatian newsroom.
The couples, aged between 66 and 68, were on holiday together when the incident happened.
“I prepared myself for the worst situation, but that was not enough; this was much worse,” Huba said.
“The tragedy is great; four human lives were lost. It was horrible. Their items were scattered all over the place in the car, and we managed to pull out a lot of personal belongings. Cell phones, women’s glasses, and a lot of snacks.”
The accident happened at around 4.20pm on Thursday on the D8 state road near Bunica, just south of Senj. The car was travelling from Rijeka towards Senji when the driver is believed to have lost control on a left bend.
The vehicle veered to the right, struck two stone barriers, plunged around 70 metres down a ravine, and ended up in the sea, according to another Croatian newspaper, Croatia Week.
Huba told the newspaper that the car fell more than 10 meters deep into the sea, and the operation to pull out the sunken car was demanding since the vehicle was heavily damaged.
“I expected it to be bad, but not this bad,” he said.
Police officer Jasmin Mujaković from the Senj Police Station was among the first to arrive at the scene of the horrific accident, 24sata reported.
According to witnesses, Mujaković removed his uniform and jumped into the cold water. He dived to a depth of 16 metres and tried to open the door of the car damaged by the force of the impact.
He surfaced several times for air and then went down under the surface again, trying to find a way to reach the victims.
“He tried everything he could. He jumped, dived, tried to open the door, but due to the extensive damage and the strong water pressure, it was simply not possible. He did his best,” said Adrian Karamba from the towing service, who praised the police officer, his colleagues and the divers, 24sata reported.
Mujaković declined to give comments to the media.
Times of Malta is withholding the names of the victims until it is clear that all their families are informed.