One of the two surfers who went missing yesterday afternoon in the sea in front of Umag in Istria has managed to reach the shore on his own. Due to storm and weather conditions at sea, the search operation for the other one was not possible late last night. According to media reports, the surfer who was rescued is a Croatian citizen, while the missing surfer is a Slovenian, reports Index.hr on October 30, 2018.
With storm calming down, major search and rescue operation was launched this morning
According to Port Authority sources, a major search operation for the missing Slovenian surfer started this morning. “All the services are there: Umag Port Authority, fire-fighters, maritime police and mountain rescue service. We are now in discussions for a large police boat to go to the sea and we will try to arrange with the local fishermen to get them involved in the search operation, depending on the sea conditions. The wind is still strong and there are high waves,” said the Pula Port Authority.
“We are looking for the Slovenian surfer in the area from the port of Umag to the Savudrija lighthouse. We are currently searching for him close to the shore since the waves are still too high on the open sea,” said the source.
The age and identity of the surfer are still not known. Officials of the National Centre for Search and Rescue at the Sea (MRCC) received a report at 5.02 pm on Monday that two surfers were seen in the seas near Umag deaspite the warnings about the storm. The wind was carrying them towards the open sea. Both surfers fell into the sea, after which a rescue operation was launched in coordination with the Pula Port Authority.
At around 6 pm, it was announced that one of the two surfers had managed to reach the shore near Umag, where the staff of the emergency medicine department from Pula provided him with medical treatment.
Due to weather conditions at sea, it was not possible to undertake a maritime search. Officials organised a coastal search by deploying person to positions on the coast where the missing surfer was anticipated to appear in accordance with sea currents and wind direction.
All participants in the maritime traffic were notified of the incident via coastal radio stations.
Yesterday’s storm was so strong that waves at the island of Palagruža further south were the highest recorded there in recent years.
