ZAGREB, October 10, 2018 – An oil spill was spotted on the River Sava downstream of the oil refinery at Bosanski Brod, a town in the Bosnian Serb entity of Republika Srpska on the border with Croatia, where an explosion and a fire occurred on Tuesday night, and the relevant Croatian services were notified, the Croatian Rescue and Protection Directorate (DUZS) said on Wednesday.
The DUZS said that what appeared to be an oil spill was spotted by Croatian border police at Slavonski Brod, the town in Croatia opposite to Bosanski Brod.
One of the services that was notified of the accident is the AEKS company, which specialises in the rehabilitation of pollution sites.
The Croatian Meteorological and Hydrological Service was asked to provide a weather forecast for Slavonski Brod and the surroundings.
Slavonski Brod Mayor Mirko Duspara confirmed to Hina today that local firefighters were checking information on the oil spill, which is believed to be connected with the explosion and blaze at the Bosanski Brod oil refinery. An emergency task force met in Slavonski Brod on Tuesday night to discuss the latest developments.
It said that there were no major increases in the concentration of harmful substances in the air but that the situation was being monitored continually, as well as that local residents would be provided with the latest information via local media and the Brod-Posavina County authorities’ web site.
According to information on the official web site of the town of Slavonski Brod on Wednesday morning, the maximum levels of concentration of any pollutant were not exceeded during the night, nor was there any need for pollution alerts.
Commenting on the accident, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said that the government was following information regarding air quality and river pollution at Slavonski Brod as well as that it was in touch with the local authorities. He also said that Bosnia and Herzegovina did not request assistance from Croatia regarding the accident.
Croatian Economy Minister Darko Horvat regretted said on Wednesday that he was certain the plant would eventually run on gas, on which Croatia insists, as a result of which the refinery would have a far smaller effect on air quality in Slavonski Brod, a town in Croatia on the other side of the Sava river.
The explosion which occurred near the Croatian-Bosnian border is not causing a problem at this moment which would endanger human lives, Horvat told reporters.
“The people of Slavonski Brod have been living under the threat of air pollution from the other side of the border for a long time, but they are also aware that Croatia is pressuring the Bosnian side as much as it can to make the plant run on gas. I am certain that over the next year or two, this will happen, and that the impact of the refinery or refining processes on air quality will be far smaller,” he said.
