August the 17th, 2026 – The catastrophic Omiš fire saw many running for their lives into the sea to escape the flames, with rescuers describing the fear in their eyes as they were pulled out of the water.
Hundreds of people managed to escape the rapidly advancing flames of the Omiš fire by fleeing directly into the sea. In their rescue, alongside the Harbour Master’s Office, the police and customs, the owners of more than 20 private boats also took part. Index writes that local residents are gradually returning to their homes in areas where the electricity supply has been restored. Some of them have lost all their property, with their houses, money and all their memories lost to the blaze, reports HRT.
“you could see the sheer fear for their lives in their eyes”
The situation was particularly dramatic at sea, where people were fleeing in desperation into the water from the fire. Among those who rushed to help them was Mario Popovac, who also took part in the rescue during last year’s fire near Marušići.
Popovac and his friends set off towards the location where people were cut off. While sailing through thick smoke and strong wind, they heard shouts from the water. “I stopped the boat and in the sea we saw dozens of people. It was difficult to approach them and pull them out, so we came closer with the stern and then used an oar to draw them towards the boat,” Popovac said.
Among those rescued was a heavily pregnant woman and parents with small children. On the first trip Popovac took 27 people onto his boat, including seven children aged four or five. “The parents were trying to hold their children up, but the waves and wind were washing over them and knocking them back down. The first two or three trips were very chaotic. Later, people called us from the beaches, so access was easier,” he said. He explained that because of the thick smoke they initially could not see the people in the water, but found them by following their shouts. They were floating fifty to a hundred metres from the shore.
solidarity in pure disaster
A large number of people joined the rescue with their own private boats. Popovac mentioned the example of a friend who loaded 20 people onto his four-metre-long boat. Popovac then took them onto his larger boat and transported them to safety.
“You could clearly see the sheer fear for their lives in their eyes. I’m glad that so many people came out with their boats. We all passed each other, helped one another and passed water around. People gave everything they had to pull others out,” Popovac said. Financial aid to Omiš has already been sent by numerous Croatian towns, including Pula, Sinj, Vukovar and Baška Voda. The final amount of damage from the fire has not yet been entirely determined, but it will be exceptionally large.
