A maritime accident almost occurred at Zadar harbour on Friday at around 18:00, reports ZADARNews on July 1st, 2017. Fortunately, everything turned out okay, despite the fact that the whole situation looked fairly dramatic.
A tourist boat was entering Zadar harbour near Điga in a somewhat strange manner when suddenly the boat started belching out black smoke as the engine roared. The loud sound of the engine was heard all the way to the bridge, where many tourists and locals watched and waited anxiously to see what will happen. As chance would have it, the ZADAR News reporter found himself at the scene, which he then broadcasted live via ZADAR News Facebook page.
It became clear that something was really wrong with the boat after it honked its horn with three short blasts (for a few times within 5 minutes), which is a warning signal meaning that the boat is operating astern propulsion (in reverse). For more than 20 minutes, the sailboat was turning around its axis several times in strong south wind. Finally, with great difficulty, the boat managed to find a solution by tying itself to another vessel moored to the shore.
Watch how the boat lost its control in the video below:
