Three Czechs die in catamaran, sailboat collision off Croatia

ZAGREB:

Three Czechs were killed and one was missing after a large passenger catamaran carrying more than 100 people and a sailboat collided in Croatia's central Adriatic on Sunday, officials said.

"We were struck by the incredibly sad news of the death of at least three Czech citizens after a collision between a yacht and a catamaran in Croatia," a Czech foreign ministry spokesman told AFP.

The Czech consul is on site, spokesman Adam Corgo said, offering condolences to the victims' families.

The accident occurred in the waters between the central islands of Solta and Brac when a "passenger vessel operated by a private domestic company collided with a French-flagged sailboat, which then sank", the Croatian sea and transport ministry said earlier.

There were 118 passengers and seven crew members on the passenger vessel, and eight people on the sailboat, three of whom were killed, the statement added.

One person was still missing while the remaining four were rescued from the sea.

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic voiced condolences to the victims' families and his Czech counterpart Andrej Babis.

"An intensive search for one person is still ongoing," he said on X.

A Croatian navy underwater drone located the sunken sailboat at a depth of more than 50 metres (164 feet) and the missing person was believed to still be inside the vessel, Split harbourmaster Zeljko Kustera told the state-run broadcaster HRT.