At around 9.20 am this morning, Wednesday 27 January 2021, a man threw an explosive in Pakrac, in Jana Žiške ulica. The explosive in Pakrac struck two other men. The two men were injured and were taken immediately to the Pakrac hospital. One was later transferred to Zagreb.
Details regarding the severity of the two men’s injuries were released by the hospital. They said the least injured man was treated for wounds all over his body and that he has suffered damage to his eardrum, but he is not in mortal danger. His colleague did not fare so well. His injuries were so severe that the decision was made to transfer him to KBC Zagreb. He was sent there at around 1pm. He underwent surgery there. Shrapnel had damaged his legs and pierced both his abdomen and head in several places. His condition going into the night was described as stable.
The two men injured by the explosive in Pakrac are employees or sub-contractors of the national electricity supplier HEP. They are a 52-year-old and a 55-year-old. They came to the house of a 71-year-old from Pakrac with another HEP colleague to turn off the electricity, and the 71-year-old threw a bomb at them. It was necessary to take the two men with the greatest injuries to hospital immediately. The third HEP colleague received minor injuries from shrapnel caused by the blast. It is the 52-year-old man who was in a critical condition. He is a popular local man. He also lives in Pakrac. Nearby houses were damaged in the explosion, police said.
Following the incident, the 71-year-old perpetrator locked himself inside the house. Police managed to arrest him after a while.
The national electricity supplier HEP released a statement about the attack which used an explosive in Pakrac
The statement reads:
“On January 27, 2021, at around 9.15 am, three workers of HEP-Operator distribucijskog sustava doo, Elektra Križ, were attacked with an explosive device while disconnecting electricity, at the order of the supplier, at a metering point in Pakrac.
Two workers were injured in the attack and were given emergency medical assistance.
We will be able to give more information about the circumstances of the event after the police investigation.
The Management Boards of HEP dd and HEP-ODS, the leadership of the HEP Workers’ Union and the Association of HEP Veterans are appalled by this event and strongly condemn the attack on HEP employees who performed their regular work properly.
HEP Group employees share their indignation and concern with the families and colleagues of the attacked workers”
Pakrac is a town in western Slavonia. It lies around 50 kilometres to the west of where the tragic discovery was made on Monday 25 January of the bodies of two local men found frozen in the snow.
TCN will be updating this story as and when we get more and relevant information.
