Captain of sunken Croatian tour boat arrested for drunk sailing

Croatian police have placed a boat captain under arrest for sailing while intoxicated after the vessel he was operating sank in the city of Split earlier this week.

The suspect is the captain of the tour boat Morska Vila, which sank after it struck a pier near a petrol filling station in western Split at 02:00 local time on Sunday, July 24.

All of the passengers and crew were able to escape unscathed before the boat sank. However, reports vary as to whether the boat had 41 or 50 people on board at the time of the incident.

Police apprehended the captain shortly afterwards and reported that his blood alcohol level was over 0.1 per cent. The remaining crewmembers meanwhile tested negative.

Salvage, firefighting, and pollution response teams are continuing to monitor the waters around the partially submerged vessel for any sign of oil spills.

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