The 12 volunteer fire-fighters were killed battling the blaze on the Kornat archipelago in 2007. Only one member of the firefighting squad-- Frane Lucic -- survived, and he suffers from the disabilities he sustained in that disaster.
The firefighters who lost their lives in that tragedy were Dino Klaric, Ivan Marinovic, Ivica Crvelin, Marko Stancic, Gabrijel Skocic, Hrvoje Strikoman, Tomislav Crvelin, Ante Crvelin, Josip Lucic, Karlo Severdija, Marinko Knezevic and Ante Juricev Mikulin. Six of them died on the site and six died from life-threatening burns later in hospitals,
A few investigations and court trials have been conducted, however, all circumstances of this tragedy have not yet been clarified.
The families do not believe in the theory that the tragedy occurred due to eruptive behaviour of wildfires, as suggested by an expert team engaged in the investigation.
A former commander of fire-fighting units in Sibenik-Knin County, Drazen Slavica, who was the only one to stand trial for the tragedy, was acquitted in the first trial in 2013, and his retrial is underway after the Supreme Court quashed his acquittal.
Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic is expected to attend the central commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the Kornat tragedy on the archipelago of Kornat on Wednesday.